Leo the Lion
by A Girl Called Piplup
Summary: Lucy always had trouble understanding her lion spirit well. But something is about to make it even more difficult for her.
1. Another Day

It's been a while since I've written anything. I'm not going to make any excuses (because I'm so terrible at making up good ones XD) so I'm sorry and I'll try to write a bit more, however I won't make any promises.

I also won't make any promises about this fic being any good, seeing as how it's actually written by the plot bunnies… damn things just won't leave me be…

Anyways…

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters *tosses another coin into the wishing well*

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**Another Day…**

Another day, another disaster waiting to happen. This was the phrase that always ran through Lucy Heartfilia's mind first thing in the morning when she woke up. Sometimes she was wrong, and her day was filled with nothing but laughter, happiness and feelings that she had never felt before. Other days she had wished she had never gotten out of bed, returning home with ruined clothes, an empty purse and bruised pride. But it was all part of the package deal that Fairy Tail came with. You took the good with the bad. Although she had to admit, some of the best times she had with her new found friends easily outweighed some of the rough times they brought upon her.

And so, the young blonde sat at the bar of the rebuilt, remodeled Fairy Tail guild, quietly sipping her morning coffee and rubbing her tired, brown eyes while she awaited the yelling and banging to begin, which generally signaled the arrival of her teammates. Savoring the rare moment of peace, and her coffee, she swiveled around on her stool and surveyed the room in search of Mirajane. She appeared to be serving some of the other mages their usual morning platefuls whilst making a bit of small talk. She then picked up her empty tray and returned to her station behind the bar, near where Lucy sat.

"The rest of the team is unusually late, don't you think?" The white-haired mage said with a bright smile.

Lucy just sloppily took a sip of her coffee, not noticing she spilt a couple drops on her pink tank top, and replied "Yeah. Still, I'm not going to complain about it. I mean, we've done so many jobs this week I've easily got rent covered, along with that new dress I've been looking at." The blonde girl sighed. "In fact, I'd rather not go out on a mission for a while, I'm so worn out from summoning so many zodiac spirits in such short periods of time." She reached down for her key chain, hanging off her denim miniskirt, unclasped it and held it up in front of her, picking out individual keys. "Two days ago I called out Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo AND Loke one after another to deal with a mob of mages from a dark guild, because they were actually a lot tougher than they looked, and Natsu, Gray and Erza ditched me… again!" A groan rose from her throat as her head fell onto the bench in front of her. Just remembering the incident made her feel tired all over again.

"Cheer up, Lucy!" Mirajane patted her on the head sympathetically. "It's not all bad, I mean, you must be getting stronger if you don't have to rely on the rest of the team as much, not to mention the amount of spirits you can call in a day has increased." Lucy smiled and lifted her head.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She clenched her fist, feeling energized once again. "You know, it makes me feel like I finally fit into 'Fairy Tail's strongest team' now that I can take care of myself."

Mirajane grinned and said lightly "You mean now that you have Loke to take care of you?" Lucy faltered for a second and gave her friend an accusing look.

"You've been talking to Happy, haven't you?" She said in an annoyed tone.

"Not really. He talks about you two quite openly and very loudly in the hall." The blonde's low growl was met with a giggle.

"For the last time we are NOT a couple and I don't ALWAYS rely on him!" She slammed her fist down on the bar in rage, humoring Mirajane even more. "The next time I see him I'm going to rip his wings off!"

"Oh Lucy, don't be so hard on him. He was raised by Natsu, after all." She wisely decided to change the subject to suppress Lucy's anger for a little while and turned towards the request board. "Why don't you take a look at the jobs and see if there's anything you'd like to do before the others get here?"

"There's no point." She calmed down a little, back into her more depressed state. "They never like the jobs I pick, either because it's not challenging or the reward isn't good enough."

"But there's no harm in looking!" Lucy looked back at her cheery friend, who had a huge smile plastered on her face, and sighed.

"I suppose not…" She slowly stood up, gulping down the last of her coffee, before dawdling over to see what jobs were available, despite her lack of motivation to go on one. However, since it was first thing in the morning and only a few other mages were in she had the whole day's worth to pick from.

"Fix a dam near Tatsuki, exterminate a glow-rat infestation at Kawasa, escort an elderly man from Dansuke to Hayano, eliminate dark guild Granite Form near Tachisan…" She glanced over the request board, failing to see anything that really caught her eye, although she was in a hard-to-please mood. She wanted to either do a simple mission that she could do on her own if her teammates wouldn't co-operate, or a day off all together.

"Found a good one yet?" The sudden deep voice by her ear made Lucy jump a couple feet, startling the mage that had spoken up. Lucy breathed a heavy sigh and held a hand over her heart to calm down her racing pulse.

"Geez Gray, were you trying to give me a heart attack?" She said as she looked up at him, before turning away with a disgusted look, hands in front of her face, and adding "And do you mind walking in fully clothed for once?" The raven haired mage looked down, seemingly surprised that he was wearing nothing more than a pair of black trunks. He strolled over to Mirajane at the bar, giving Lucy a moment to compose herself, before returning to her side wearing black pants and buttoning up a white collared shirt.

"Anyway, have you found a good one yet?" He repeated. The only reply he received from his companion was a groan and a shake of her head. Gray looked over the board for a few seconds before saying "I don't see what the problem is. There's plenty to pick from, and it's not like they're all dull jobs." He turned to Lucy, who was staring at her feet, appearing to not be paying attention to him. He frowned, and practically got in her face as he spoke to her. "Hey, what's up with you today?"

Lucy huffed "Nothing…" in reply as she grimaced and pushed his face away from her own. She turned to get away from Gray as quickly as possible, but instead almost walked right into a crimson haired mage, who wore shining silver armor and bore a serious expression on her face. "Oh…. Hi Erza…" Lucy said unenthusiastically. The armored mage just stared back at her with a piercing gaze.

"Lucy…" At the sound of her name, Lucy froze. The tone Erza used was one that meant she was displeased.

"Y-yes… Erza?"

"Gray's not giving you trouble, is he?" Lucy breathed a sigh of relief, while the man behind her tensed up in fear. "Because if he is… I can deal with him…" Gray began to shake uncontrollably on the spot, his mouth opening and closing for a response, but with nothing coming out.

Lucy just waved her hands in front of her face and hurriedly said "Nononono! It's fine Erza, really! He was just helping me pick out a job…" She trailed off, making eye contact with the ice mage, who was madly nodding his head in agreement. Erza just gave a light 'hmph' before walking up next to Gray, who looked like he was about to faint. Whilst the two of them had their attention turned to the request board, Lucy once again attempted to creep away from the guild and score herself a peaceful day. She made it all the way to the doors before the last two members of the team slammed them open in her face.

"GOOD MORNING LUCY!" They shouted in unison. Lucy looked up from her place on the floor, after being knocked down, and glared at the young, pink haired teenager and the blue cat with white wings that was sitting on the dragon scale scarf around the boy's neck.

"Ugh… morning Natsu, Happy…" She mumbled in reply, picking herself back up and dusting off her skirt, accidentally brushing her keys which caused them to rattle. She jumped back in shock when Natsu's face was right near hers, a wide grin spread over his face.

"So, what mission are we doing today?" He asked energetically.

"Well…"

"This one!" Erza shouted from the request board in an authoritative voice, holding up a sheet of paper.

"Oooh! Lemme see!" Natsu ran over and snatched the request paper right from Erza's hand, staring at it intently with his winged companion staring over his shoulder. "Let's see…" A few seconds silence before he said loudly "750,000 jewel!" Lucy groaned at her friend's enthusiasm. In reality it wasn't that much, 15,000 jewel per member of the team, minus damage costs. She'd be lucky if she received 10,000. She tried reasoning with herself, thinking it might be a good idea to save up some money for a rainy day… or week…

Her thoughts were interrupted when the fire mage once again came bounding back towards her, shoving the job description in her face, and said "We're doing a really cool job Lucy! We have to get going as soon as possible!" The blonde scoffed in disgust, ripping the paper out of his hand and away from her face so she could get a better look at it. She sighed when she realized which job it was…

_Eliminate dark guild Granite Form near Tachisan…_

"Natsu, we just disbanded a dark guild two days ago, don't you remember?"

He responded to her question with a clueless expression on his face, before crossing his arms, shrugging and saying "Don't look at me, Erza's the one who picked the job." Lucy grimaced, knowing she couldn't really argue with Erza unless she wanted to be bedridden for a week. Then again, that would give her an excuse to not go on jobs with them, but at the same time she knew Erza would find some way to drag her along no matter how sore she felt. "Besides, it'll be fun! Right Lucy?" She looked from Erza, Gray and Happy to Natsu. She sighed in resignation.

"I'll go and pack my things…" She said glumly.

"Alright! That's the spirit!" Natsu patted her roughly on the back, knocking her to the ground for the second time that day, and he hadn't even been there five minutes.

As she walked out the door she heard Mirajane call out "Don't work yourself too hard Lucy! Try and have some fun!" Lucy turned back around to see her friend waving at her, and offered a small one in return, before trudging back to her apartment.

Mirajane watched the rest of the team discussing the upcoming mission, the two boys quick to start an argument, which ended just as quickly with Erza separating them to opposite sides of the room… via a punch to the side of their faces. She giggled at the sight, and turned to another mage that had just perched herself on the stool that Lucy had sat in earlier that morning, and ordered a red wine.

"You're up early Cana." She said with a smile. The young woman looked at Mirajane and sighed.

"I was hoping to catch Lucy this morning, but it looks like I got here too late."

"You just missed her. She left about five minutes ago." Cana sighed and slurped the rest of her wine down in one gulp.

"I saw something in the cards, I thought Lucy might need to know."

"Oh?" The barmaid handed her friend another glass of wine, which was sculled as quickly as the first. "Can't you tell Erza or Happy? They could pass the message on."

"They wouldn't understand, plus I'm sure they'd forget, even Erza. You know how they when it comes to missions and battling." Another sigh and another glass of wine down the hatch.

"The stars are shifting…"

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Yeah I know… not that great… I suck at first chapters, and horoscope/tarot card prediction thingys…

That, and the person this fanfic is named after hasn't even made an appearance! :O

I know. I'm mean, aren't I? Hopefully the next chapter will get better and have a bit of action!

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	2. Preparations

Wow… I mean… I seriously didn't expect my story to attract as much attention as it has. Thank you all so much for favouriting this story and reviewing it, you have no idea how happy it makes me and how much it motivates me! You guys are awesome! :D

Disclaimer: No, don't own it yet…

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Preparations**

Lucy trudged down the street slowly, not in any particular rush to get back home seeing as how she wasn't really motivated to go on yet another mission. But what choice did she have? Possibly get beaten up by some mages or definitely get beaten up by Erza. Lucy shuddered at her second choice, remembering why she was going. She felt a bump against her leg as her canine companion spirit accidentally slipped off the ledge he was walking on and fell against her. Her master giggled.

"Be careful Plue, you might fall into the river next time."

The little white dog turned its pointy carrot nose towards her, held up a paw and replied "Puu puun!" He always made her smile with the simplest of actions, that's what she loved about him. If only everything in life were so simple…

Approaching her front door, she pondered on the kinds of mages she would be up against and whether or not this was going to be a simple mission. She knew better than to get her hopes up, but it had been quite some time since she'd had a decent rest. She would give just about anything to go on vacation for a week or two. After finally getting her keys out (her house keys) and unlocking the door she was met with a surprise in her living room.

"Hey Lucy!"

"It's about time you got here."

"HOW THE HELL?" Lucy gawked at Natsu and Happy, sitting at the table with some snacks from her cupboard. They looked up from the food in their hands and paws and stared at her with confusion etched on their faces. "I left before you guys! How the hell did you get here before me?"

Natsu blinked and replied, with a mouthful of food "Happy flew us here. It's faster to go over the buildings than around them." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Aye!" Happy agreed, sticking the fish he was holding into his mouth. Lucy growled quietly. With the mood she was in she really didn't want company at the moment, especially company that specialized in diminishing her groceries in record time. But since they seemed to be occupied with stuffing their faces she decided to let them be. They didn't appear to be getting up for more anytime soon.

"Well… I'm going to take a bath before I pack. You two had better not cause any trouble in my apartment in the meantime. That means no cleaning out my pantry, no scratching up my walls and no going through my stuff." She shook a finger at the two to emphasize her point.

"Wha…?" A few crumbs of bread fell from Natsu's mouth and onto the table.

"Eww! Close your mouth!" Lucy grimaced

"Why do you need a bath?"

The blonde sighed, "Who knows how long this mission is going to take. Plus I didn't have one yesterday because I spent the whole day in bed, and I usually take it at nighttime so I haven't had one today. I want to feel refreshed when I leave." The fire dragonslayer just blinked and swallowed the remains of food, shrugging as if he either didn't care or didn't understand what his friend said. Lucy groaned, shook her head and made her way to the bathroom, stripping her clothes off and relaxing into the warmth of the water, her cares washing away for the time being. Plue contemplated joining her, but in the end decided against it and returned to his home in the spirit world.

**-IN THE MEANTIME-**

"Uwaah, man I'm still hungry!" The teenager patted his stomach as he walked to the kitchen. He opened several cupboards before he came across more food and carried it back to the living room table. Sitting himself back down, the fire mage proceeded to scoff as much as he could, whilst the blue feline stared at the wall next to the couch. He flexed his claws, shaking as he struggled to restrain himself, remembering Lucy's threats to declaw him if he sharpened his claws on the walls again. But after a few more seconds he gave in to temptation and lunged at it, tearing off the wallpaper and leaving deep cuts in the wood. But Happy didn't care. It felt sooooo good…

After fifteen minutes Happy and Natsu stood up in the living room and examined the mess they had made.

"Do you think… we should clean up?" Happy mumbled.

Natsu waved a hand and replied "Nah, it'll be alright! What's Lucy gonna do? Blow up on us?" The terrible duo laughed for a few seconds before falling back into silence. They observed the room once more before the boy added "We should... probably leave before she comes out…"

"Aye…"

And with that, the two jumped out the window and hastily made their way back to Fairy Tail.

**-HALF AN HOUR LATER-**

Lucy could feel a migraine coming on. Hadn't she told them? She could have sworn…

An empty kitchen, a trashed lounge and ripped walls were certainly not the first thing she wanted to see after leaving the bathroom. And for once, she wished Natsu and Happy were here, just so she could kill them before Gajeel did. The idiots didn't even stick around to take responsibility. Lucy sighed, she'd just have to get her revenge on the train when Natsu is completely helpless…

She walked into her room, which was thankfully untouched by her destructive friends, dropped the towel around her waist and began changing into a clean set of clothes. She easily picked out a set of underwear, it was the outer layer of clothes that was a little more difficult. Before she'd met Natsu she'd had perfect matching garments that she could easily mix and match. Now half her wardrobe had been burnt thanks to the walking matchstick. Honestly, couldn't he be more careful?

She slipped into a white skirt and black t-shirt, then twirled in the mirror to see how she looked. After a couple of minutes of deliberating, she took off the skirt and returned to the closet, digging for jeans. Just as her hand closed around a pair, a bright light shone in her room. Lucy turned around to see what it was as it began to fade, and found a man in a green jacket and black pants standing beside her bed. Lucy screamed and they both jumped.

"AHHH! LOKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Loke's hands shot up to his face to cover his eyes, which were already hidden behind his shades, and spun around. Lucy quickly reached for the closest solid object she could get her hands on, which turned out to be her hairbrush, and threw it at the spirit.

"Don't you know it's rude to… to spirit in, or whatever it is you do, when a girl is changing?" She screeched.

"I said I'm sorry! When Virgo checked before I left you were fully dressed!"

"So you guys have been spying on me?"

"Ye-NO! No, that's not it!" Loke unintentionally turned back around whilst verbally defending himself, and ended up having a deodorant can hit him in the face, reminding him to face the window.

"I knew what you were like with women, but I didn't think you were that kind of guy." Lucy scoffed.

"It's not what you think! I always get Virgo to check and see what you're up to before I visit to make sure you're not busy or…" Loke paused, giving a slight glance over his shoulder at his master, who had hastily put on the jeans that she was holding while he wasn't looking. "We really thought you were just casually walking across the room, honest!" There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Lucy spoke up.

"I suppose I'll let you off THIS time since it's a first offence." She sighed, and then looked sternly at him. "It had better not happen again, understand?"

"Of course." Loke let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as he ran a hand through his ginger hair. He'd heard stories of Lucy's wrath from her teammates that had experienced it. None of her spirits had suffered such a fate, and he certainly didn't want to be the first. He was pulled out of his daze when the girl before him spoke up again.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Her mood certainly hadn't improved much since she had discovered the mess in her living room, and uninvited guests weren't helping. Not taking any more notice of her scowl, her spirit just grinned at her.

"I could tell you were upset, so I came to make you feel better!" He said cheerfully. Lucy held a hand up to her forehead. Yep, she definitely had a migraine.

"Listen, Loke… that's nice of you, and all… but I have to head off on a mission soon. I still have to pack, so I don't really have time for this right now." She was met with a frown.

"Another one?"

"Yep." When Lucy looked up she noticed that her friend's smile had disappeared, and he looked slightly depressed with his slouched shoulders. She didn't know what he was upset about, but she couldn't help but feel bad. "Look, I know you must be getting tired, all of you. I am too. After this one I'll take a week off so we can all rest and recuperate. How does that sound?" She tried her best to sound optimistic to try and lift Loke's spirits, but she just received a small nod in reply. With that, she turned to the suitcase beside her closet, yanked it out of its tight spot and began packing it with everything she felt was necessary. When she had nearly finished she felt a hand lightly touch her shoulder.

"If you need me, for anything at all, just call me." Loke mumbled.

"Yeah, thanks." Lucy replied without looking up. She felt his presence disappear as another flash of light lit up the room, and couldn't help but stop and think about him for a second. She often had trouble understanding him, but she had never seen him like that before, and it worried her. She wondered if he was getting sick or something from all the fighting he had been doing. He had been called upon for numerous missions in the past few weeks and had little time to heal up. _"Perhaps I should give him a break…"_

All packed and ready to leave, Lucy headed towards the door. But she stopped upon sight of her lounge and stared in shock. It was not in the same state it was in when she had last looked at it. All of the rubbish and wrappers had been cleaned off the table and floor, the used dishes stacked on the rack next to the sink in the kitchen and the ripped wallpaper placed into a neat little pile on the table where the food mess had been. Lucy blinked rapidly, trying to figure out exactly what had happened.

"Did Loke… do all this?" She walked around the room once to doubl check if anything had been missed, but it seemed like her faithful spirit had done just about everything. "I guess I wasn't really paying attention to him while I was packing, but he didn't have to!" Lucy smiled at the result of Loke's generosity. "I'll have to thank him somehow once I'm done with the mission." She held a hand up to her chin as she thought of what she could do for him. "Maybe I could take him to the park. Yeah, that one with the big lake! He said he occassionally likes to enjoy some peace and quiet." She nodded with renewed determination to complete her next mission as quickly as possible.

Shutting the front door behind her, Lucy began humming an upbeat tune to herself. She thought she would never see the day where someone else would clean up for her, especially not a guy. But Loke had proven her wrong, and this had finally lightened her mood. She felt much more reassured that she was leaving for her job with a nice, clean apartment to return to. And a trip to the park would be nice and relaxing. She imagined the two of them by a tree together, Loke lying in the sun, sleeping peacefully while she sat next to him, making a few touchups on her novel.

The young blonde felt her cheeks start to turn a little warm when she realised she was imagining something from a romace novel she had read. She shook her head furiously to try and rid her face of the redness before she reached the station. She did not want to be questioned by Happy on such things, especially when she already wanted to kill him and his fiery friend. But still, she couldn't help but hope for a peaceful time with one of her close friends when her job was done.

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Did I promise some action? I'm pretty sure I did… see… I had the next chapter all written up and ready to go, but the plot bunnies attacked me again and forced me to write this chapter in between the two…

I really need to get some rabbit traps for the little pests XD

So NEXT chapter I promise we'll have some action, no matter what!

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	3. Darkness Rising

Due to popular demand, I've updated a little faster this time. I doubt this will happen often, but I'm in a really good mood after a long, long week of work. I will try and get a new chapter up each week, so we'll see how we go.

Alright, let's get some action going this time! I apologize in advance if this chapter is not up to par with my other ones. I'm doing something I've never done before, so bare with me ^_^

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it…

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Darkness Rising**

Once again, things hadn't quite gone according to plan. The team had casually made their way to Tachisan by train (spending some time at the station so Natsu could recover from his unexplainably intense travel sickness) and wandered towards the quiet mountain range where the headquarters of the guild they were meant to deal with was supposedly hidden. Things were going well to start with. The building was easily sniffed out by the dragonslayer, followed by guildies being thrown around by flames and swords, and it appeared that this job was going to be over well before evening. That was, until their stronger mages conveniently returned from a mission of their own.

The first thing Natsu did when the new opponents walked through the door was breathe fire over all of them, naturally to test their abilities so he could pick out the strongest looking one and challenge him. After his flames dissipated, he charged towards a bald, bulky man roughly in his twenties, only to be sent flying back by a swift punch to the abdomen. Once Natsu regained his composure and looked up, he noticed that the mage's fist was encased in stone, much similar to Elfman's style, although it seemed more like stone manipulation than Take Over magic. The young teenager grinned as he once again lunged at his adversary, his fists and feet engulfed in fire, and tackled him through the wall and well out of sight, although the rumblings of their battle could still be heard. Happy just grew his wings and frantically flew off in search of Natsu so he could support him.

The three remaining Fairy Tail mages just stood on the spot, staring at their enemies whilst waiting for them to make a move. The young girl on the team of dark mages smiled and crossed her hands over her chest, creating dark crystal shards out of thin air, before thrusting her petite arms forward, the shards following her movement. Gray was quick to counter, protecting his friends with a shield of ice. The dark shards bounced off pathetically, but when the shield disappeared the other dark mages were gone. Within a few seconds, the magenta haired girl lunged at Gray from the side, a dark crystal sword in her hands above her head. Gray produced his own sword, made of ice, and parried the blow, pushing her back. Both their swords dissolved and the two of them glared intensely at each other, before they became locked in a battle of their own.

The third dark mage to attack was a rather scrawny looking kid, his short, brown hair sticking up in every direction. He stood on the spot, making random gestures with his bony hands, a faint glow emanating from his body. Lucy raised an eyebrow and shook her head, failing to understand what he was doing. That was, until Erza tackled her to the ground, knocking her out of the way of a table that flew in her direction. The man pointed towards several chairs, then flicked his hand towards the two girls. The chairs hurtled towards them, but were stopped short when Erza exchanged her casual sword for a battle axe that was sitting in her alternate dimension space. The thick blade made a clean cut through one of the chairs, whilst the other chair just flew off to the side, the mage's accuracy clearly not the best. Despite that he seemed rather smart. The next thing Erza knew, she could feel the axe shifting in her hands, leaning towards her as if turning against its master. She withstood the push with all her might, before it flew across the room into a wall, the knighted mage still hanging on tightly to the end of her weapon.

Lucy felt that a fight like that was way out of her league, and quietly snuck out of the slightly broken building in the hopes that maybe she'd find Natsu and be able to lend him a helping hand. That way she wouldn't feel as useless as she did getting in Erza's way. Besides, the last thing she needed was for that creep to notice her keys, and then telepathically remove them from her chain. She really didn't need to lose her keys yet again! She had a feeling something like that would happen, or that she would get cleaved in half by Erza's weapon being carelessly swung around the room, if she remained. She trembled slightly at the thought.

Lucy hastily wandered through the forest, following a long trail of destruction consisting of burnt trees, dirt torn up from the ground and rubble lying off to the sides. She suspected such devastation was left by Natsu. After all, his footprints resembled broken buildings, burnt foliage, crumbling mountains… anything broken, you name it. He certainly wasn't known for his carefulness or subtlety, if he ever possessed such traits at all in the first place.

When she had run out of sight of the guild headquarters, she could feel a presence, as if she was being watched. She turned around and saw a tall, lean man with a sinister grin staring at her from atop a tree branch, slightly off to the side of Natsu's trail of course. She instantly recognized him as the fourth dark mage to show up unexpectedly, and suspected that he noticed her slip out of the building. He chuckled deeply and jumped down in front of her, examining her waist with greedy eyes. Lucy was disturbed at first, until her hand brushed the keychain on her hip and she realized exactly what he was after. He obviously knew her weakness just by looking at her. However, this man reacted differently to any other person who had spotted her keys. Instead of lunging at her to wrestle them off of her, he jumped down and calmly reached into his coat pocket, a faint jingling heard as he rustled around in it. Within a few seconds he pulled out a silver key, similar to the ones Lucy carried with her, and he chanted a spell that was familiar to the young blonde's ears, only with a name she had never heard outside of stargazing.

"Open, gate of the dragon. Draco!"

A magic circle appeared in front of the man, opening a portal to another world: the Spirit World. A dark energy shot out of the circle and struck the ground, revealing a man in a casual black shirt and jeans, with shoulder length black hair. His whole body seemed to radiate evil from it. He even had a dark aura surrounding his fists. Lucy shrunk back a bit, she had a bad feeling about this particular spirit. Normally silver keys were nothing to worry about, but then Lucy remembered Caelum, who had blasted two spirits through the chest in one shot. She knew not to underestimate a spirit no matter how they were ranked.

The dragon spirit laughed, a twisted smile on his face, as he said "Master Xavier, you called me to take on such a pathetic little girl?"

The dark celestial mage replied "Take a closer look, Draco." The servant squinted as he looked his opponent up and down, until he finally spotted her keys.

"Wow, that's quite a collection, isn't it? You want them, right?" He turned to his master, whose grin grew wider with excitement.

"Yes, get them… then kill her!" On his command, Draco ran towards Lucy as fast as lightning. She had never seen such a speedy spirit before, and was only just able to dive out of the way of a shoulder tackle. The evil spirit quickly managed to regain his footing as he turned around for another attack. As he was upon her she quickly ducked out of the way a second time, reaching for her keychain. She didn't care which one, anyone would do as long as it gave her some time to regain her state of mind from the surprise attack. She quickly yanked a random key off and took a quick glance at which unlucky spirit she picked, and slapped her forehead.

"_I can't use Aquarius, there's no water around here! Damn you Natsu…"_ She didn't know why she blamed Natsu, seeing as there was no water nearby in the first place. It had become the natural reaction to just blame him and his destructive nature for something when things were going wrong. She ran behind a tree for some cover, hoping that Draco was purely speed based, and quickly picked off another key before appearing from her hiding place and waving it through the air.

"Open, gate of the golden bull. Taurus!"

Lucy's magic circle appeared before her, and with a mighty roar a black and white minotaur burst from the ground, his trusty double edged axe strapped to his back. He smirked at Lucy, who only scoffed in disgust, before he cracked his knuckles before his opponent. However, Draco did not seem to be deterred by the mass of muscle that stood before him. If anything, he seemed more amused at the presence of the giant.

"Taurus! Be careful, he's really fast!" Lucy said in a hurried breath. The bull spirit turned to her with a confident smile.

"Don't worry Lucy. I'll make sure he won't lay a hand on your nice body!" He then faced his opponent and grabbed his axe off his back before jumping into the air and slamming it into the ground. The shockwave missed its target completely, as Draco darted around the attack and stopped just short of Taurus, delivering a flurry of punches into his chest. Badly bruised and beaten, Taurus cried "Noooo, Luuucyyy…" and disappeared in a flash of light as quickly as he had come. Thankfully, he had been around long enough for Lucy to think of another strategy to beat the swift and crafty spirit before her. She raised another key above her head and opened yet another gate.

"Open, gate of the maiden. Virgo!"

In the presence of another magic circle, another figure burst out of the ground. This time it was a lean girl dressed in the outfit of a maid with shackles around her wrists. As she gracefully landed on the ground she descended into a bow before her master.

"What shall it be today, Princess?" She asked politely.

The young mage pointed over her spirit's shoulder and said "Take him out Virgo!"

The maid's eyes glowed a bright red as she muttered "Understood," before suddenly disappearing back into a hole in the ground. Draco hummed to himself, clearly enjoying the bout of exercise he was getting, and watched the ground in front of him churn as his enemy approached him from below. He easily jumped out of the way, but then Virgo burst out of the ground and managed to pull off one decent kick. Unfortunately Draco was still too fast and managed to catch her leg before it connected with the side of his shoulder. While they were still in the air, he swung the maiden around by her ankle and then let go, sending her flying into a nearby tree. To make sure he'd finished the job he held his hands to the side, the palms facing each other, and a dark orb appeared between them. He launched the ball of energy at Virgo, and it exploded upon contact. When the dust cleared Lucy could see the last remnants of Virgo returning to the Spirit World.

Lucy had begun to panic now, but she wasn't completely out of ideas. Although she knew she couldn't summon Aquarius, due to a lack of water at which Lucy was still cursing Natsu for, she still had a wide range of spirits left at her disposal. But before she could pluck off another key she felt the wind knocked out of her as she was sent flying across the ground like a rag doll. Draco was certainly a fast spirit, and he had also proven he wasn't so weak in his assault either. Lucy got back up and once again reached for her keys, but quickly found herself grasping at air, and looked down to find that her keychain was, once again, missing.

"Looking for something?" A sly voice called out to her. She turned her attention towards the greasy haired mage, who was casually swinging her keychain around his index finger. Lucy grimaced, now she was in trouble. "We're done here Draco. Dispose of her."

"Of course, Master Xavier." The dragon spirit replied before darting towards the teenage girl once more, knocking her back down to the ground once more. He chuckled as he stood a few metres from her, charging up an energy attack between his hands that looked like it was going to be very painful. Xavier laughed loudly, but was cut short when one of the keys in his hand began to glow. He looked at it curiously, not knowing what was happening, then looked back up when a bright light shone from a magic circle on the ground just in front of Draco. He stared at it in disbelief, not wanting to acknowledge that this girl could possibly be that strong. The light quickly faded and a solid fist collided with the side of Draco's face, sending him flying off to the side and forcing him to abort his attack. With Draco out of his line of sight, Xavier could clearly see a young man in a green jacket with ginger hair and sunglasses standing protectively in front of Lucy.

"Loke!" He turned around and she met his concerned eyes. She smiled up at him, relieved to be able to lay eyes on him, because she knew that everything would be okay now that he was there with her. He knelt down in front of her and held her shoulders gently.

"Are you alright?" Lucy nodded in reply, but then frowned.

"What about you?" Loke's face twisted into an expression of confusion.

"What about me?"

"Aren't you tired? You've had to come and rescue me so many times this month…" She looked down at the ground, but then looked back up when she heard Loke laugh quietly.

"Spirits heal up faster than humans do. I'm fine, and besides…" He looked at her seriously and pulled her a little bit closer to his face "No matter what condition I'm in, I'll always fight for you. You know that." Lucy nodded once more, then felt her figure slump as he let go of her and stood back up to face his opponent. The dark dragon spirit rose back to his feet to eye him off warily, the two of them exchanging piercing glares. For a moment Lucy could have sworn she heard a growl escape her spirit's lips. "You tried to kill my master?" He asked in an accusing tone, his attitude changing completely as he prepared himself for a fight.

Draco just chuckled and replied "Maybe. So what if I did?" Loke's hands curled into tight fists and began to glow brightly as Regulus, the brightest star in the Leo constellation, bestowed its power onto him. Draco's hands did the same, except with a dark light supplied by Eltanin. The next words Loke spoke in a threatening, yet surprisingly calm, voice.

"I'm gonna rip you apart…"

* * *

Yeah… I know… I wasn't going to leave it there, but this chapter was getting too long.

Next chapter, a fight between Draco and Loke! I'm not that great at fight scenes because I've never done them before (just pointing that out in case you haven't noticed from this chapter), but if anyone has any suggestions as to how to improve them without the chapters getting ridiculously long, I'm all ears! Just write it in a review or send me a pm and I'll be eternally grateful :D

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	4. The Clash

I know it's been longer than a week, I'm really, REALLY sorry! Work was very hectic last week (that season, you know), and I've had next to no access to a computer this week as I'm staying at my friend's place at the moment and I can't get a hold of one for more than 2 minutes… so I have had very little time to write.

So I'm really, really sorry! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year, and without further ado, I present to you my next (and extremely lame) chapter!

Disclaimer: Never have, never will own it.

**

* * *

The Clash**

The two spirits stood perfectly still, engaged in a pre-battle stare off, whilst their masters anxiously waited for the first move to be made. Xavier was still in shock as to where this new opponent had come from, but was absolutely certain that it was a mage that had come to the rescue of his fellow guild member. After all, he knew from experience that a girl as young as Lucy didn't have the magical power to summon a spirit without her keys. It was impossible!

"Who are you?" He demanded, pointing a shaking finger at Lucy's savior. Loke quickly glanced at Xavier before returning his attention to the real threat in front of him. His master stood up behind him and brushed off her skirt before clearing her throat to respond.

"This… is my strongest spirit!" She said proudly with a confident smile on her face. Xavier cocked an eyebrow and laughed, wiping the grin off Lucy's face.

"Him? There is no way… no way that he is a spirit!" He thought it rather humorous that his enemy was so desperate to use the arrival of her friend to bluff a summon in such a way to make herself look strong.

"No." Draco said, cutting off his owner. "I recognize him…" There was dead silence and no movement as Draco looked Loke up and down, his eyes widening as he finally realized who he was. "You… you're Leo, aren't you?"

"Leo?" Xavier gasped. "As in 'Leo the Lion'? The strongest of the Zodiacs?" He looked down at the keychain in his hand and a particular key caught his eye. One end of the key was in the shape of a lion's head and had the symbol of Leo engraved on it. His gaze slowly shifted back towards the man that was ready to fight for the blonde mage, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face as it began to heat up. "This isn't good, Draco." The dragon spirit scoffed in disappointment.

"Do you doubt me, Master Xavier?"

"Of course not!" Draco smiled a toothy grin.

"Good. I'll show you all the full extent of my power!" He roared. The only response was a chuckle from the mighty lion before him.

"You guys have no idea…"

Within a split second Draco was sent flying through a tree, a great deal of pain erupting in his stomach as a glowing fist swiftly punched him in the abdomen. A few seconds passed before he recovered from the shock of being struck and stood up once again. With lightning speed he charged at Loke, returning the blow but with less force. Loke hit the ground, but gracefully tumbled into a crouch before lunging at the dragon once again. The two became locked in hand-to-hand combat, striking at each other as hard as possible whilst trying to avoid getting hit themselves. Xavier watched from a distance, analyzing the fighting styles of both of the spirits.

"_It's obvious Leo is much more powerful than Draco…"_ he thought to himself. Loke swung at Draco, who ducked under his arm and punched him in the side. _"But Draco is still faster than him…"_ Xavier grinned. The lion spirit was taking several hits, whilst he was struggling to land an attack on his opponent. _"All that power doesn't mean a thing if he can't land a single hit…"_ Draco jumped back before tackling into his enemy as hard as he could. The two landed on the ground with a loud thud and Draco was quickly overpowered by Loke, who wrestled his way into a position where Draco was face first in the dirt, his arms pinned behind his back, and started raining blow after blow on the dragon, that was writhing underneath him. With little success of breaking free, and started to feel drained from all the damage he had taken, he relaxed his fists until his hands were open, and let loose a barrage of small, dark orbs. His attacker cried out in pain as the orbs exploded on contact with his chest and fell to the side, releasing the dragon spirit from his hold. Draco quickly got back to his feet and distanced himself from Loke, who was also picking himself up off the ground. They both shook as they struggled to regain their breath, yet neither was willing to give in to the other.

"Loke…" Lucy whispered to herself as she clenched her fists to her chest. _"He's really badly hurt…"_ She watched as her spirit once again ran forward and punched at thin air as Draco dodged and punched him in the gut again. Loke stumbled back a little while holding where he had been hit, and Lucy noticed a slight lean in his stance which had been there the whole fight. _"He was seriously injured when he fought two days ago. As a spirit he can recover fast, but he still hasn't had enough time…"_ Loke cast a look over his shoulder at her, as if he could read her mind.

"I know what you're thinking, Lucy." She gasped as he interrupted her thoughts as if she had spoken them out loud. "I know it looks bad, but I promise I won't let anything happen to you… no matter what." He looked back at his opponent, who was still gasping for breath but had a confident smile on his face. "I won't let this bastard hurt you again!"

"Don't worry," The dark spirit chuckled, his fists encased in black light. "She won't feel a thing if she holds still." He held his hands out, palms facing his target, and let loose another stream of orbs towards Loke. The balls of darkness exploded in quick succession, black smoke erupting from where they detonated. When the smoke cleared there was no sign of the lion. Everyone gave a different reaction to the result of Draco's attack. Xavier stood in shock for a few seconds before a wide grin crept onto his face and he laughed out loud. Lucy just stared in horror at where her spirit stood just moments ago. Draco just hung his head in relief and his arms dropped to his sides as he relaxed for the first time since Loke appeared. "I've gotta give him credit," he said in an exhausted voice, "he was tougher than he looked."

"But he was still no match for you Draco!" Xavier said triumphantly, smiling at his spirit. But his smile faded just seconds later, transferring over to Lucy as they watched what happened before them. There, behind Draco, was Loke, who had appeared out of thin air. His whole body glowed as a magic circle appeared in front of his fist. "Draco! Behind you!" Xavier yelled, but it was too late.

As the dragon spirit turned around, Loke shouted "REGULUS IMPACT!" A bright lion's head erupted from the magic circle and engulfed Draco entirely, carrying him through multiple trees before smashing him into the side of a ledge, dropping him on the ground unconscious. Loke kept his guard up for a minute in case Draco got back up, but when there was no response from the dragon he collapsed to his knees. Xavier just stared at his defeated spirit as Lucy ran to Loke's side as fast as she could to look him over. He could hardly move with the little strength he had left, he was barely clinging onto his grip in the human world as it was. He just wanted to go back home and recover, but at the same time he didn't want to leave just yet. He slowly lifted his head to face Lucy and said "Are you okay?"

Lucy just looked at him wide-eyed and said "Me? I'm perfectly fine! What about you? You're a mess!" The lion spirit just chuckled in reply, but it quickly turned into a cough. Lucy rubbed his back to comfort him and said "You should return back to your world." Loke slowly but stubbornly shook his head. "Look, I'll be fine. It doesn't look like this guy has any other spirits as strong as Draco. Besides, I'm sure the others have probably finished up the rest of them by now." The blonde mage laid a hand on her friend's cheek and lifted his head up so she could look him in the eye. "Please, just go…" Loke's pants slowed down as his eyes began to slowly shut, and he began to feel light-headed as he prepared to leave. But his eyes snapped back open and he forced himself back to his feet, swaying on the spot as he desperately tried to keep his balance.

Lucy was confused, but jumped to her feet when she noticed that Draco was standing up once more, his body had turned completely black and his eyes were glowing dark crimson. His breath was really ragged and sounded deeper than it did before, and his hunched form began to grow and distort. Tattered and torn wings sprouted from his back, his arms grew muscular and five fingers melded into three claws, his legs fused together to form a jagged, deadly looking tail and his head elongated into a pair of powerful jaws as a third gem shaped eye appeared on his forehead between the other two. By the time the transformation was complete Draco had grown to a real dragon that was three times his original size. Lucy gaped at the monstrosity before her.

"Wha… wha… wha…" She was so shocked she couldn't even get a full sentence out. Xavier was also surprised at what had become of his spirit, and was backed up against a tree in fear that he would turn on him, as he had never seen him like this before. Loke just glared up at the dragon as he strode past his master, ready to continue the fight despite how badly bruised and beaten he was. He knew he had a duty to fulfill. He had to protect his owner no matter how much pain he was in. He didn't want anything to happen to her, he would never forgive himself if something did… He took a deep breath and lunged at the newly formed Draco, his fists glowing a more dimly with the last bit of energy he had.

Lucy snapped out of her daze when she realized what he was doing and screamed "LOKE NOOO!" He heard her, but he didn't listen. He jumped up and punched the side of Draco's face as hard as he could before landing on the ground, staggering slightly. Draco didn't even flinch at the attack. He just turned towards Loke and roared at him before knocking him aside with his tail. Loke toppled along the ground several times before coming to a stop and struggling to his hands and knees. The giant monster reached down and closed his claws around his prey before swinging him around, bashing his body against any trees and rocks close to him. After about a minute he threw him to the ground, letting him tumble along the ground like a rag doll, his glasses flying off his face and landing at Lucy's feet. To finish him off, Draco breathed a stream of fire from his humongous jaws that seared away at the land, swallowing Loke up in them.

Lucy was horrified at the scene before her when the flames dissipated. She knew he couldn't die, but she couldn't help but cry at the sight of her faithful spirit lying in the scorched dirt, not moving an inch.

* * *

Again, I wasn't going to leave it there, but… yeah… still trying to work this thing out as I go, so I'm trying to buy myself some time…

Draco's dragon form thingy probably sounds really weird. He came out of a strange dream I had about this evil dragon thing that had two big arms, three eyes and a jagged tail. I thought he looked pretty cool (despite the fact he was trying to kill me in my dream XD) so I decided to use him for something. It sucks that I can't draw to save my life, because then I'd draw him, upload the image then attach the link for you all to see, but that is not to be… at least I can write… kinda… XD

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	5. Unexpected Change

Well I'm back again, and after I finished the last chapter I became less and less happy about the way I ended it. It feels like I've dug myself into a hole for this one and that I'm going downhill, but we'll see how we go.

Anyway, I suppose I'd better not keep you waiting. On with the story!

Disclaimer: No, I'm not Hiro Mashima so I don't own Fairy Tail

* * *

**Unexpected Change**

Time seemed to slow down as Lucy ran to her fallen spirit, she just couldn't seem to reach him fast enough. She was only just holding back tears as she rolled him onto his side and gazed upon his beaten form. His eyes were closed and his entire body relaxed. He was clearly out cold and no longer able to fight. Of course, Lucy was far more concerned about his wellbeing than her own, despite the fact that she was in grave danger now that her strongest spirit was out for the count and a humongous dragon was hovering several metres away from her. But the one thing that had Lucy stumped was the fact that the lion spirit had not yet returned to the spirit world. Then again, it didn't surprise her that his stubbornness could persist through unconsciousness. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she gently lifted his upper half to her chest and cradled his limp body in her arms.

"… L-Loke?" She whispered, pulling his head closer to her face. He didn't respond. "I'm so… so sorry…" She took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut and attempted to send him back to the Spirit World herself. "Close, gate of the lion." She didn't feel the weight in her arms lighten, and when she opened her eyes he was still there. "Forced gate closure!" Still he remained in her hold, and Lucy could no longer stop the tears from streaming down her face. She had never seen him like this before, and it scared her. She rested her cheek on the top of his head and began to sob out loud. "Why, Loke… why won't you go back?" Lucy was so focused on the situation right in front of her that she failed to notice what was going on behind her. Xavier had somehow gathered up the courage to slowly approach his own spirit now that he was sitting perfectly still, he hoped he was still the same… sort of…

"Draco?" He wandered off to the side of the dragon, still a little cautious. The monstrous spirit turned his head and a little growl escaped his jaws. Xavier breathed a sigh of relief, he still seemed loyal. He looked up at him once more and said "I don't know what's happened to you, but this is incredible! I knew you were powerful, but this is beyond even what I imagined! With you, I can become the most powerful mage around!" They both turned to the blonde crouched on the ground, her attention was still on Loke. "But first, I want those keys…" Draco looked back down on him and snarled. Xavier's cocky grin disappeared off his face once more, and fear overtook his body as the dragons eyes began to glow. With one quick movement, Draco swiped at his master, knocking him into some bushes, before focusing on Lucy again and slowly approaching her from behind.

Lucy didn't realize what was happening until she noticed a shadow looming over her. She turned around slightly, clutching Loke closer to herself, and stared at the dark giant. The dragon spirit let out a deafening roar, causing her to flinch, before swiftly plucking her off the ground and holding her tightly in his claws, letting the lion spirit drop to the ground once more. His grip on the spirit mage tightened, slowly beginning to crush her petite body. She could feel the air leave her body and struggled to take more in as Draco clenched tighter. She tried to scream, but no noise came out of her throat. Lucy could quickly feel herself losing consciousness, and looked once more at what was to be the death of her before her gaze returned to the ginger haired man lying in the dirt, and her thoughts turned to him.

"_Loke…"_ she thought to herself as she felt herself fading into darkness. _"I really… wanted…"_

At that moment, Loke's eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet as his body began to glow with a warm, bright light. The light engulfed him completely and he lunged at Draco's arm, tearing through the side of one of his claws and forcing him to release his hold on the lion spirit's master. Lucy felt herself fall and closed her eyes as she prepared herself for collision with the ground, but instead she felt something softer move underneath her, and instantly grabbed hold. When she opened her eyes she noticed she was riding some sort of stream of light, heading back down. The light underneath her hit the ground, taking the impact for her, but she lost her grip and tumbled off her ride. When she looked up again she gasped at the sight before her. The light faded away, and Loke wasn't there.

In his place stood a brilliant white lion with a flowing, golden mane. The beast turned towards her, his throat rumbling with a soft growl, and Lucy noticed his eyes. They were a glittering green, the same as Loke's. He also had the three piercings in his left ear that Loke wore, and there was no mistaking the mark of Fairy Tail on his back, in between his shoulder blades, slightly covered by tufts from the end of his mane. Lucy remembered the time he showed her for the first, and only, time. Looking at the lion before her she realized that now Loke was just like Draco, transformed into that which he was named after. He was the lion standing in front of her.

Though he was still severely wounded from their previous scuffle, Loke eyed Draco off warily, standing protectively in front of his master, readying himself for one last round. The draconic figure screeched loudly, clenching his claws together and flicking his tail from side to side. Loke responded with a mighty roar, his ears pulled back slightly, and he charged towards the enemy that threatened his owner, kicking up dirt under his four large paws. Draco swung his jagged tail at his target, aiming to knock him into the ledge. The giant feline just jumped over it and latched onto Draco's arm, sinking his teeth and claws into his muscle and causing him to howl in agony. He struggled to hang on as the monster swung his arm from side to side, desperately trying to shake him off. In the end he succeeded in flinging him off, but Loke was able to gracefully land on his feet and jump back to distance himself from the dragon that was now thrashing around in pain.

Lucy was too stunned to move from her spot, for she had never seen such a battle unfold before her eyes. She couldn't believe that the large lion standing in front of her, standing up to a giant dragon, was the same man that cleaned up her apartment earlier that day. He had never seen him act like this before, standing up so tall and proudly before the hideous monster, his lips curled back to fully bare his sharp teeth. It was as if he was making himself look bigger to say 'You can't beat me, I have more power than you.' She couldn't tell if he meant it or if it was just a bluff to make Draco back down. If it was a bluff, it didn't work.

Draco took a deep breath, and another jet of flames, dark as night, shot out of his mouth. Loke let out a low growl before lowering his head, a bright light emitting from his jaws. When he lifted his head and opened his mouth wide a stream of light flowed from the open gap, colliding with the flames and exploding upon impact with them. Smoke erupted into the air, clouding Lucy's vision and airways. She held her arms up in front of her face, coughing and gasping for fresh air until the smoke subsided. When she looked up Draco was gone, leaving Loke standing there, his head turning from side to side as if he had lost something. Lucy began mimicking this action, wondering where Draco could have gone. Surely he couldn't have gone back to the Spirit World just yet, could he?

Loke's ears flickered, and he quickly turned around to face Lucy, staring intently at the foliage behind her. She was confused at why he was glaring at her, until Draco lunged at her from the thickness of the trees. She instinctively turned around and her body became paralyzed as she watched the giant dragon come down upon her, his jaws wide open. She couldn't even find her voice to be able to scream out loud, she could only stare at the dragon's yellow, rotting teeth. Before he could lower his head to chomp down on Lucy's fragile body, Loke leapt over her with one thunderous roar, his entire coat glowing with a soft light. He soared just under Draco's chin and rammed into his chest, tearing right through his body. Draco howled as he fell backwards, collapsing right on top of the white lion just as he landed on the ground. Lucy watched and waited, for several minutes there was no movement whatsoever, from Draco or from Loke. Finally she could feel her body standing up, still staring at the dragon spirit, lying almost lifeless on the ground. Lucy took a step forward.

"Loke?" She said quietly. She took another step, but froze when Draco flinched, his chest rising up slightly. From under it emerged a giant paw, claws unsheathed to grasp at the ground. With a groan, the rest of the body shortly followed, the mighty lion's breath staggered from exhaustion. He turned and eyed off the body he had just crawled under from, until it glowed with a dark light, shimmered and disappeared back to the Spirit World to rest and recover. Loke hung his head, seemingly relieved that the battle was finally over, and then looked up at his master with a much softer expression than he had before. His eyes were tired, but happy. Lucy slowly approached him, still a little uncertain of this foreign appearance, and held her hand out to him. He stared at it for a few seconds before he head butted it and rubbed his nose against it. Lucy smiled in relief and scratched the top of his head, receiving a light moan in response. Thankfully it seemed like Loke's personality hadn't changed, he was still a big softy.

Suddenly he quickly pulled back and his nose twitched. He tilted his head and trotted over to the source of a familiar scent. He began rustling through some bushes, peaking Lucy's interest and causing her to follow behind. She looked down at Loke's findings and saw Xavier lying in an awkward position, obviously unconscious. She raised an eyebrow and shrugged before reaching down and plucking her keychain from the hands of her defeated enemy, taking the opportunity to pull a face while he couldn't see her.

She then turned back to her faithful spirit once more and said with a wide smile "Thank you, Loke. I don't know what I'd do without you." The giant lion nodded once in reply, then his entire body tensed up and he fell onto his side, his eyes squeezing shut as the pain finally kicked in. Lucy rushed over, laying a hand on his side and another under his head. "Loke? Loke! Are you alright?" Loke let out a deep breath before a bright yellow light enveloped him once more, pulling him back to his home in the Spirit World. Lucy remained seated on the ground, filled with worry for her friend. He had just gone through hell and high water to protect her, to the point where he was unconscious at one stage, or so Lucy thought. He had gone through so much in that last battle, he would be severely injured. Lucy was just thankful that he wasn't going to die on her, because he would if he could if it meant she would be safe.

"LUUUUCYYYYY!" She turned around as she heard a group of voices all shout out her name. There was Natsu, Happy, Erza and Gray, all running towards her with concern etched on all their faces.

She just groan and replied "Where have you guys been?"

Erza bowed before Lucy and said "I sincerely apologize on everyone's behalf." Lucy's expression turned from anger to confusion. Erza always had that effect on her.

"Those mages were all tougher than we thought. It took us all a while to take down the ones we were fighting." Gray added.

"Well I don't know what you guys are talking about, I had no problems!" Natsu said enthusiastically with a thumbs up.

"Aye!" Happy circled the group in the air.

"So… what happened here?" Gray asked, pointing at the singed clearing where the dragon and the lion had fought.

"It's a long story…" Lucy sighed. Gray cocked an eyebrow, but just shrugged.

"Well anyway, we have the guild's flag as proof that we have defeated them." Erza said, holding up a brown cloth with a jagged symbol in the middle. "Let's head back and claim our reward."

"Alright!"

"Aye!" Natsu and Happy began rushing back towards Tachisan, eager to claim their share of the reward.

"Sheesh, I've never seen Natsu so eager to jump on a train," Gray mumbled as he and Erza followed. Lucy just laughed as she fell into stride beside them. When she looked up at the sky, she noticed that the sun was going down and that a star was already out. A wide smile crept onto her face.

"_Loke…"_ She remembered back to the promise she made to herself when she first left her apartment. _"Rest up well, and I'll see you soon."_

* * *

Phew… finally the fighting is over… for now… man I hate writing out fights, but thankfully I can take a break from them!

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	6. Taking a Break

Alrighty, time for the next chapter! I dunno how this one is gonna go either, but I'm trying as best I can with the little time I have!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Fairy Tail… I'm pretty sure I'd have a loooot of competition for it all anyway if the rights were up for grabs…

* * *

**Taking a Break**

The rays of sunlight shone through the crack in the curtains and onto the young blonde's face, causing her to stir from her slumber. She sat up, yawning and rubbing one eye as she stared at the drapes, slowly pulling them aside to look at the outside world that was busily bustling below her. She stretched and sighed before glancing at her clock, slightly surprised at the numbers that the hands sat on. Lucy quickly shrugged it off, she didn't have anywhere important to go today. She hadn't had anything important on for quite a while, as she hadn't taken a job for nearly two weeks, even when her teammates begged her to. She was enjoying her sleep-ins, plus she refused to go on another job until she was certain that all her spirits were fully recovered.

Loke was certainly taking his time getting back to full health, but Lucy knew that there was no way to speed up the process, even though it was already unnaturally fast as it was. Whenever she needed a spirit she would ask how he was, but the answer was always the same.

"He's still resting, he needs a bit more time…" They would tell her. There were some days she nearly wanted to cry out of guilt and frustration because it had been such a long time since the battle with Draco.

'_Why is he taking so long?' _Lucy would think to herself.

'_Because you made him fight when he wasn't fully healed.'_ She would always reply. She would mentally beat herself up over it until tears threatened to spill, then the conversation with herself would always end before the waterworks started.

Lucy shook her head before she got herself started again and got out of her bed. She needed to get her mind away from those negative thoughts, otherwise she was going to be in glum mood all day, like she was the first few days after her last job. She took a quick shower to freshen herself up, then headed to the kitchen for some breakfast. Opening her pantry, she noticed that she was running low on groceries, which was a surprisingly welcome change from being completely out like she usually was twice a week or so. She shrugged and grabbed her cereal box, shaking it to find that there was next to nothing left in it, not quite enough for a proper meal. She couldn't really complain, for once it had lasted her longer than a week. Man, it was good to have a break while everyone else, especially Natsu, went on more jobs!

After changing and fixing her hair up, she grabbed her keys and purse and headed out the door and down the streets of Magnolia to the market. It was surprisingly busy considering the day of the week and the time of day. Nevertheless, Lucy took her time weaving through the crowds, going from stall to stall to seek out the things she needed, sometimes just browsing through to see if anything caught her eye that she could treat herself to. The load of shopping quickly became too much for the poor girl to handle, and so she called out for assistance, placing her purchases on the ground and pulling a key off her belt.

"Open, gate of the maiden. Virgo!" The young maid appeared next to her master and bowed.

"What shall it be today, Princess?" She asked politely, taking a quick glance at her surroundings.

"Sorry to bother you Virgo, but could you give me a hand carrying these?" She asked as she gestured to the bags sitting on the ground.

"Of course." Virgo bowed once more and picked up two of the full paper bags, leaving Lucy to carry the last one, and the two continued on through the market as there were still a few items Lucy was missing. After retrieving the last of them, they began heading back to the apartment. As they walked along, Lucy broke the silence with the same question she always asked.

"Hey Virgo…" she started, not wanting to sound so much like a broken record, "I know I've been bugging you guys about Loke a lot lately, but I'm really worried about him. Is he okay?" The maiden spirit looked over at her owner and smiled.

"Leo was up and about today, he seems to be back at full strength." This brought a bright smile to Lucy's face.

"Really?"

Virgo nodded and added "He wanted to come and visit you, but I told him he shouldn't use too much of his energy at the moment, just in case, and to let you summon him. If that's alright with you, Princess."

"No, that's fine. I understand." Lucy's face shone at the news. Finally, the day had come where he was back to normal! She picked up her pace, unable to wait to get to her apartment and summon him up just to see him. The image of the two of them in the park popped back into her head, and her grin grew wider. She had really been looking forward to this! Just as they rounded the corner to Lucy's apartment, they nearly bumped into Mirajane.

"Oh, hey Lucy!" She greeted with a smile.

"Hi Mira! What are you doing all the way over this side of town?" Lucy asked with a confused look.

"Oh, I'm going out to see if I can buy any timber." She replied. There was a short silence as Lucy just raised an eyebrow as she stared at her, so Mirajane continued, whilst scratching her cheek with slight embarrassment. "See… last night there was a bit of a drunken brawl… and it kind of got more out of hand than normal since Master and Erza weren't in to break it up like they normally do, so we're trying to do repairs before either of them get back, but we ran out of wood so I'm going out to get some."

Lucy just shook her head, not surprised that such a thing would happen, before saying "Do you need a hand? I've got all day free, I just need to stop by home first and drop my groceries off."

"That would be great! I'll meet you back at the guild when I'm done!" Mirajane waved as she continued towards her destination. Lucy quickly returned the wave, not wanting to risk dropping the bag she was holding, then she nodded at Virgo and the two of them made their way to the apartment. After assisting in putting everything away, Virgo bowed once more and took her leave back to the Spirit World. Lucy looked down at her keys and held up the key with the Leo symbol on it.

"_Loke…"_ Lucy wanted to see him again, but she figured she'd let him have a little more time while she went and helped fix up the guild. She wanted to see him by the end of the day, she just hoped it wouldn't be too late by the time repairs were finished.

-**THREE HOURS LATER-**

Lucy wiped the sweat off her brow after nailing the last leg back onto the round table. The weather had become scorching hot, and the inside of the guild was no better with the stuffiness. If they didn't have to keep breaking and fixing everything they could probably invest in an air conditioner, but that was Fairy Tail for you. Mirajane fluttered down from the ceiling in her demon form after nailing up the busted roof supports (Lucy questioned herself as to how something so high up got broken) and looked around the hall, which was almost barren due to the fact that people were at home with hangovers after participating in the all out drunken fight or staying away from the guild to avoid having to help out. The people that could been seen scattered throughout the hall were putting in their two cents worth, but none of them were working as hard as Mirajane or Lucy.

Mirajane hovered over to the pillar by the second floor and observed it. It had numerous cuts in it, but they were not caused by the fight from the previous night. In fact, they had been caused by Erza herself, who was under the effects of a strange potion at the time. However, it was sitting at a rather odd and dangerous angle near the bottom, and it wasn't because of Erza. Mirajane tried to push it back into place, but it wouldn't budge. She punched it a couple of times with as much force as she could until she backed away, panting heavily. She and Lucy stood there for a few minutes, staring at the pillar, then turned to the hall to see if they could spot anyone who could be of some use, but there was no-one.

"If only Elfman was here…" Mirajane sighed, returning to her human form. "He could probably fix this by himself with his strength." The two stood in silence, frustrated by the unmoving post, before Lucy came up with an idea.

She quickly grabbed a golden key off her chain and chanted "Open, gate of the golden bull. Taurus!" The giant bull appeared from the magic circle the blonde had produced and stood tall with his axe in his hands over his head as he roared. He then turned to Lucy, lowered his axe and leant on it as he eyed his master with glee. Lucy instantly regretted summoning him as she hid her face behind her hand for a second, then pointed at the pillar and said "Taurus, can you knock that back into place?"

The minotaur grinned and replied "For you and your nice body, there is nothing I cannot do."

"Considering you couldn't last five seconds in the fight with Draco." Lucy muttered under her breath as Taurus turned towards the pillar, axe back in his hands. He then charged and swung his weapon back, ready to land a powerful blow on it until he heard a voice cry "TAURUS STOP!" As commanded, he stopped dead in his tracks, the axe just inches from the pillar. He then turned to Lucy with a confused expression as she screeched "What are you doing?"

Taurus scratched his head and said "I was going to hit it back into place like you said." Lucy smacked her forehead with her palm.

"If you hit it with your axe you're going to slice it in half!"

"Ohhh…" The giant cow stared back at the pillar, realizing what she was getting at.

"Can't you just hit it with your fist or something?" Lucy was trying to reason. She really didn't need more damage right now. The axe fell to the ground and Taurus held his hands up.

"Of course I can!" He put all his strength into his right fist and punched the pillar as hard as he could. The structure shook a little, but there was still not enough movement for it to be deemed 'repaired'. Taurus stood still for a minute with his fist resting against the pole, until he started jumping around, holding his hand shouting "OUCH! OUCH! OUCH!" and returned to his world, his forgotten axe also faded away upon his departure.

"Sometimes I wonder why I bother…" She sighed in defeat.

Mirajane patted her on the shoulder and said brightly "It's okay, I'm sure it can wait until Elfman gets here!" At that moment there was a large creaking sound coming from the roof, which subsided after a few seconds. Mirajane looked from the rafters back to Lucy and added "You wouldn't happen to have another spirit you can try anyway, would you?" Lucy looked at her keys and her gaze landed on Loke's key. She had promised to give him a break, but at the same time she needed him now. It couldn't hurt, could it? After all, it wasn't like he was fighting a giant dragon this time, besides he'd probably be happy to get out and about in the human world again for a little bit.

Lucy pulled his key off the chain and recited "Open, gate of the lion. Leo!" There was a bright flash and light enveloped the entire room as the great spirit made his entrance via the magic circle. But when the light subsided, Lucy's jaw dropped at the sight of him, whilst Mirajane just let out a little giggle.

"Awww, isn't he cute?" She said cheerily. The comment didn't resolve Lucy's confusion.

"Loke… why are you still like THAT?" She asked as she pointed at him.

Before her sat a giant, white lion with a golden mane, his flattened ears and half open green eyes reflecting a look that implied he was also unimpressed at the situation he was currently in.

So much for him being back to normal…

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I know you guys probably hate me for doing that, this is pretty much nothing but filler to buy me some time, except for the last little bit which is actually story related ^_^

So… SORRY! I honestly know how much you guys hate cliffhangers! Believe me, I hate em as well when I'm reading other people's stories…

But hopefully from now on there should be way more Loke and Lucy if everything goes according to plan… not that I have a fully set out plan yet, I'm still playing around with ideas here and there.

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	7. A Lion's Heart and Body

I suppose I'd better try to make this chapter half decent after the crap I gave you last time XD

Disclaimer: Many things would be different if I did own Fairy Tail, but alas! I do not.

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A Lion's Heart… and Body**

Loke sat before Lucy, his tail brushing against the floor as it swished back and forth, and he emitted a long, low groan. Lucy just stood and stared at her lion spirit, which now actually was a lion as stated in his official title. Sure, she could still recognize some of the characteristics he had as a human, but… this just wasn't right!

"Loke… why are you still like THAT?" She asked as she pointed at him. He tilted his head to the side and his shoulders moved up and down, as if trying to shrug but it was rather difficult for a big cat to do. Lucy's mouth hung open as the two just stared at each other for a while. "Don't tell me you're stuck like that…" she finally managed to say. The lion repeated the awkward shrug, causing Lucy to cover her face with her palm. "Why?" she muttered. Her attention returned to her spirit when he let out a surprisingly short and quiet roar, followed by a few grunts and groans. The young mage just raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what he was doing. Realizing she had no idea what he was saying, he stopped and lowered his head, covering the top of it with one large paw and let out a low, disappointed sounding growl. Lucy held a hand up to her forehead. She could feel another migraine coming on. "This… is not… happening…" she said through gritted teeth.

"I think he's just adorable!" Mirajane said enthusiastically as she clapped he hands together, clueless to the real extent of what was going on. Loke just rolled his eyes at her typical reaction. There was another large creaking sound from the roof of the guild, and some dust fell down from the plastering of the ceiling, settling in the lion's mane. Lucy and Mirajane glanced at each other before the Celestial mage remembered what she had summoned her spirit for in the first place.

"Loke, I need your help." She sighed. He looked over at her and cocked his head to the side again. Lucy pointed at the pillar beside them and said "I need you to knock this support beam back into place. Can you do it?" Loke looked up and down the pole, then stood up and let out a low growl, followed by another short roar. He charged at the wooden structure and ran into it with all the power he could muster. He bumped it back a little bit, but it still wasn't quite fully upright, so he kept pushing against it, straining his muscles as his claws dug into the floorboards for extra grip. Slowly the pillar began to move, inch by inch, until Loke ran out of strength, stepped back and flopped onto the floor, his legs sprawled to either side. Lucy and Mirajane observed the pillar once more, satisfied as it appeared to be back into place thanks to the combined efforts of Mirajane, Taurus and Loke, and then looked down at the exhausted feline. "Thank you Loke!" The worn out lion lifted his head, moaned and let it drop back to the floor, his rough, pink tongue hanging out the side of his jaws.

Lucy crouched down to his level and said "Hey Mira, could you please get some water for Loke?" The white haired mage nodded and headed towards the bar as requested. Lucy looked down at her lion spirit once more and stroked the top of his head gently. She was amazed at how soft his mane was, she expected it to be rough and tangled but instead it was smooth and silky, and his coat felt like velvet. She was pulled back to reality when she heard a peculiar sound, and realized that the lion on the floor… was purring! It was a very deep, quiet purr, rather similar to his growl, but it was accompanied by slightly upturned lips which vaguely resembled a smile, and closed eyes to form a content expression on his face. The blonde couldn't help but return the expression, and silently agreed with Mirajane that he was kind of cute like this, but at the same time she wanted the old Loke back.

She was jerked out of her thoughts once more when a voice beside her said "Here you go Lucy!" She turned to see Mirajane crouching down beside her and watched her place a bowl filled with water in front of Loke. At the sound of the metal clinking against the wooden floor, Loke slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head up to look at the refreshment presented to him. He slightly lifted himself off the floor only to lie down again when he had crawled closer to the bowl. The lion retracted his tongue back into his mouth and, much to Mirajane and Lucy's surprise, plopped his head right into the water, rather than drink it like they both expected of him. The bowl quickly tipped onto its side and the clear liquid sprung up out of its container and splashed all over Loke's face, and he let out a contented sigh. The two mages in front of him stared at him with wide eyes before Mirajane smiled and said "I guess he'd be pretty hot with that thick coat of his."

Looking around the guild hall, the girls noticed that the last few people were making their way outside to the pool since they had finished the last of the repairs. The sweltering heat wasn't getting any better, and they had all earned themselves some relaxation time. Their attention snapped back to the Leo spirit when he groaned at the last drops of moisture that evaporated off his face. For the start of spring, the sun sure had a real kick to it, and Loke was clearly feeling the full bite of the heat, especially having to work in it.

Lucy rested her hand on his head, just in between his ears, and said "Maybe you should go back, it doesn't look like you're taking the hot weather too well." Loke raised his head a little and blinked twice before lowering it again and letting the light return him to his home. Lucy looked towards the door that led to the outdoor pool, and contemplated taking a dip, but eventually decided against it. Sure it was hot and it was a good reward for her hard work, but she didn't even bring her bathers with her. Plus the new development in Loke's… condition had slightly dampened her mood. She wasn't depressed or angry, just a little confused at what was going on. It was also frustrating her that things still weren't going quite according to her plans concerning her spirit. Why couldn't things between them just be normal for once? Oh that's right, he's a spirit! There's never anything normal about spirits. Sighing and slouching her shoulders, the blonde turned to her friend and said "Mira, I'm heading back home again."

"Ok Lucy, thanks for your help!" The Take Over mage replied with a wave. Lucy walked out of the guild and looked up at the clear blue sky and shook her head. She then made a beeline for the river which led her back home.

**-THREE HOURS LATER-**

Lucy collapsed on her bed with a frustrated groan, hugging her pillow to her chest. She had been trying to finish off the rest of the chapter from the novel that she was working on, but her mind was so clouded with thoughts on what happened at the guild that she couldn't concentrate. She was simply too busy trying to figure out exactly what could have possibly happened to her strongest spirit. With a groan, the blonde reached down and picked up her Weekly Sorcerer magazine that had been resting at the base of her bed. She needed to finish reading it before the next one came out in two days, and she needed to get her mind off of things. She flipped through several pages, trying to find where she was up to, when she accidentally went straight past the page and landed on the exclusive interview article. She could have sworn her eyes almost popped out of her sockets.

"WHAT? Since when did Juvia get an interview with Weekly Sorcerer? I didn't see anyone drop by the guild!" Lucy's face dropped into her soft pillow and she started fuming. It really ticked her off that she couldn't even get the interviewer's attention for two lousy seconds, let alone a spotlight in the magazine. They even paid more attention to Wendy, the newbie, than they did to her. She always tried a number of things to make herself look special and stand out, but usually her attempts were interrupted by fights that broke out among the boys, especially Natsu and Gajeel. Gray, at least, had a little self control to hold his grudges until after their guest had left, although there was that one time the fire dragonslayer threw a chair at him. You really couldn't blame the guy for retaliating in such a situation.

Lucy had been tempted on a couple of occasions to summon Loke and pretend that the two of them were together, but there were several things that made her able to easily restrain herself from doing so. For starters, she felt that using his popularity for her purposes was rather selfish and cruel, plus it would probably hurt his feelings using him in such a way. Not to mention that she would never, ever, EVER hear the end of it from her fellow guild members (Happy most of all), and it would be very hard to shake the act. She wasn't desperate enough to use someone else in such a way, especially someone close to her, although her mind had wandered over to the thought whenever the interviewer was present and not looking in her direction. It often made her feel guilty that she would even consider the possibility. Of course, such an idea was out of the question anyway now that Loke was in the form of a lion.

The blonde rubbed her temples with her fingers. Her thoughts had just come back around to the thing that she had tried to take her mind off of. She slowly sat up and pulled back the drapes on her window, peeking out at the dark sky, and the hundreds of stars visible within it. Lucy opened up her window and rested her chin on her hands, with her elbows propped up on the window sill. She looked up at the endless night sky and instantly picked out the constellation of Leo. There was never a night of stargazing where she couldn't see it, as it was the first one her mother taught to her when she was young. It had a lot more meaning to her now that she had the spirit himself. The two of them had become close friends and so they had been through a lot together, and obviously still had more ordeals ahead of them.

Gazing up at the stars that made up Leo, she furrowed her eyebrows. Something was different. She traced her finger over the little bright lights, as if joining up a dot-to-dot puzzle, her eyes widened and she gasped as she made a shocking discovery. There was one star missing, right where the bottom of Leo's mane reached his chest, just above Regulus (Lucy was thankful that Regulus was still there, as Loke had no power without it). She spun around and clumsily tumbled off the bed in her rush before jumping up to her feet and fumbling for the keys that sat in the mess of her writing materials and grabbing Loke's key.

"Open, gate of the lion. Leo!"

With a flash of light, the white lion appeared before her once again and looked up at her with his glittering, green eyes. There was a light purr coming from his throat from the excitement of seeing his beloved master again, despite the form he was currently stuck in, and his expression was a rather content one. He seemed to be less concerned about the situation he was in than Lucy, and was just enjoying her presence.

Lucy hopped back to her spot on the bed by the window and waved him over as she said "Loke, come here and look at this!" Loke obeyed her request and jumped up on her bed to sit beside her. Lucy was quite surprised that the bed didn't even creak under his weight, it wasn't made of anything special. She figured he must be a lot lighter than he looked. She snapped back to reality when the giant lion poked his nose out the window and turned his head from side to side, looking for what his master wanted him to see. Lucy reached over his back and draped her arm around his warm, fuzzy neck as she softly said "Up there." She pointed up to the sky, and the Leo followed her finger up to his constellation and the empty space where a star should be. Loke's eyes widened and he let out a grunt of confusion as he turned to the blonde girl beside him. She didn't know what he was trying to tell her, so she just said "I don't know what's going on. I just thought that maybe it has something to do with… this…" She gestured to the lion before her, who followed her hand movement. "It would make sense, I guess… If the constellation was to change then maybe so would you." Loke just tilted his head, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. She twisted around and rested her back against the wall next to the window, letting out a deep sigh.

"I don't know, it's just a theory. If that is the case, then it could be really difficult to change you back." She paused and took a moment to think about what their relationship would be like if he had to stay as a lion. She didn't think she would be able to quite treat him the same. "I just hope there is a way to get you back to normal. This just doesn't feel right." Loke's ears tilted backwards slightly, a sign of disappointment. Lucy closed her eyes and sighed, she just wished everything could go back to normal, and soon!

She opened her eyes at the feeling of something cold and wet touching her arm, and saw Loke nudging her with saddened eyes. Lucy gave a small smile and gently patted the top of his head and ears. The feline's face instantly lifted, his eyes closed and he rubbed his head into her hand as he began to purr once more. He seemed to like the feeling. Lucy couldn't help but laugh a little, it seemed so ridiculous when she thought that this was Loke that she was petting, yet she also enjoyed it a little bit. She'd never had a pet cat before in her life.

"I guess we could get used to this for a bit, but hopefully not for too long." She soon stopped and reached for her keys. "Alright, I need to have dinner and then I'm going to bed, so you should probably go back." Loke let out a disgruntled moan, to which Lucy replied "You can't stay here, you still need to conserve your strength." Loke's ears flattened and he let out a defeated growl before he head butted Lucy's arm and returned to the Spirit World in a flash.

Lucy stood up from her bed and placed her keys on her bedside table and sighed heavily. There were so many things boggling her mind tonight, like how a star could just disappear from the night sky, and how to replace it. She had a feeling she was not going to sleep well with so many thoughts on her mind.

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Okay, so I'm starting to get somewhere. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how much longer I'm going to make this story, not quite sure how long to drag it on for XD

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	8. Waiting for Regulus

I know that this chapter is really late, and I'm sorry! I've had a lot of things to deal with lately and uni has started back up, which is making it a little difficult. Rest assured, I haven't stopped writing! I'm determined to finish this, for once in my life I'm gonna finish a multi chapter fic!

Disclaimer: Yeah… no… don't own it

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Waiting for Regulus**

Mirajane hummed to herself as she dried off another sparkling clean glass and placed it amongst the others in the cabinet behind her. She looked around the guild at the mages seated at the various tables and standing by the request board, enjoying the peace amongst them. It generally didn't last long, whether Natsu was around or not. It was in the nature of Fairy Tail wizards to stir up trouble every now and again. Mirajane and Makarov were just grateful that they kept it between themselves, rather than take it outside and get citizens involved. That would be a whole new world of problems for their poor, old guild master.

"Hey Mira," the barmaid turned at the sound of a tired voice and saw her blonde friend slide onto a stool in front of her.

"Hi Lucy, I haven't seen you for a few days. Where have you been?" Lucy's head slumped onto the bench and her eyes closed as a look of exhaustion spread over her face. "Hey, are you alright?" Mirajane shook her shoulder slightly to make sure that Lucy was still with her, and was finally met with brown eyes that peeked out from underneath half open eyelids.

"I'm okay... just… sleepy…" Her eyes fell shut once more as she raised her arms up to cushion her head. The wooden bench just wasn't comfortable enough.

"Haven't you been sleeping well?" The take over mage gazed at her with concern. It was normal for Lucy to be tired after a long mission with Natsu and the gang, but she had been home for two weeks or so now.

"I've been doing… some research…" The blonde mumbled in response, refusing to open her eyes again. "… trying… to figure out… what's wrong with…" she trailed off as slumber threatened to snatch her consciousness away from her. She could feel some saliva pooling at the edge of her open lips inside her mouth, ready to trickle down her chin, but she couldn't find the strength to care, much less stop it. She started and sat upright when there was a loud thump next to her, and turned to see Cana wiping some alcohol that had dribbled down her face after she had sculled from another barrel.

"Oh yeah, I heard from Levy that you were buried in a pile of astrology books when she came to visit. She also said something about a star disappearing from the sky, I think." Lucy yawned and nodded lazily. She perked up when Mirajane placed a mug full of steaming coffee down in front of her, and swiftly snatched it up to gulp it down as quickly as she could. She was in desperate need of a caffeine boost!

Placing her mug back on the bench, she rubbed her eyes a little and said, with a little more energy, "I think that Loke's form changed when the star disappeared. I've been looking through books for days trying to figure out what's happened and how to reverse it."

"I've heard about stars exploding when they reach the end of their life span, could that have been it?" Lucy stayed silent for a minute as she considered the possibility, then freaked out.

"Ohhh no! I really hope not, otherwise he might never change back! Oh, I really that's wrong!" Her face fell at the thought of never seeing the handsome, human face of her spirit companion ever again. She jumped at the sound of Mirajane giggling.

"I don't think that would be such a bad thing, I think he's cute as a little lion."

"Mira, as cute as his lion form is, I like him much more as a human." There was silence as Mirajane gave Lucy THAT look. She stared back in confusion, then jumped and covered her mouth with both hands as she realized what had come out of it.

"So Happy WAS right!"

The blonde lowered her hands, her cheeks slightly tinted pink as she responded "I didn't mean it like THAT! It's just… he's been a good friend for a long time, and for him to change just like that, it's…" she sighed and lowered her head, "it's a lot for me to take in. I don't think I could ever fully accept the way he is now…"

Another silence.

"It must be hard to have a conversation with him as well." The barmaid said lightly. Rather than take the comment as a joke, like she normally would, Lucy just nodded slowly. She obviously failed to see the humor in the whole situation. Feeling sorry for her friend, Mirajane reached down to a shelf under the counter, pulled out a copy of Lucy's favourite magazine and said "So I guess you wouldn't have the newest issue of Weekly Sorcerer if you've been at home." Lucy shook her head, unable to believe Mirajane's ability to jump from subject to subject, and gently took it from her hand. She wasn't really in the mood for Weekly Sorcerer, she had more important matters to deal with after all, but she still half-heartedly flicked through the pages, glimpsing at the stories only for a moment. However, one particular article caught her full attention.

'Astrologist Discovers Phenomenon'

On one side of the first page were telescopic photos of the constellations of Draco and Leo, each of them missing a star.

"So it wasn't just Loke!" Lucy exclaimed. Mirajane cocked an eyebrow at her, only to be ignored as the celestial mage thoroughly read the story. As she flipped over to the next page, she saw pictures of Regulus and Eltanin, both with another star hugging them tightly as if they were joined together, and became very confused. "I don't really understand this. It says that Al Jabbah has moved over to Regulus, and currently the two stars are supposedly emitting more energy than usual. Same for Eltanin and Rastoban." After reading the passage, she heard a snort as Cana spat her drink all over the ground and turned to Lucy.

"What did you say?"

A little surprised at Cana's action, Lucy said "Some of the stars in the constellations of Leo and Draco have moved." Cana let out a deep sigh as she leaned against her barrel.

"I had a feeling something like this would happen."

"Huh?"

"That's right, your prediction that you were meant to tell Lucy!" Mirajane said, turning to the alcoholic.

"Tell me what?" She looked back and forth between Mirajane and Cana, hoping she would get an explanation.

"Before you left on your last job I saw something, and I had a feeling it was to do with you." Cana pulled her deck of cards out of her handbag and held them out in front of her as she remembered her premonition. "I could see the stars shifting that day, and I thought that something was going to happen to either you or your spirits. But by the time I got here you'd left for your mission." She looked back up at Lucy with concern in her eyes.

"I wish I'd known that sooner, but it's too late to change what's already happened. All we can do now is try to fix it." Brown eyes gazed back down at the magazine sitting on the bar. "Two stars close together emitting an enormous amount of energy…"

"Two sources fused together!" Lucy jumped and spun when the voice abruptly interrupted her thought process and found the elderly guild master himself sitting on the bar. He had spoken up as if he had been sitting there the whole time, seemingly knowing what the conversation was about. He had a habit of doing that.

"Master?" Mirajane looked at him with confusion etched on her face.

"Two sources expelling a lot of magical energy can sometimes be drawn to each other, and fuse together." Makarov said, stopping for a second to take a swig from his mug before speaking again. "The same thing happens with lacrima and, very occasionally, wizards that mess around with forbidden spells. Sometimes things can change as a result, such as the magical properties of the lacrima, or the physical form of the wizards." Lucy was very intrigued by the old man's supply of knowledge.

"So…" Lucy looked over at the pictures again, then back to her superior. "How do we separate them?" She waited patiently for a response as Makarov finished his drink.

"When a large amount of energy is used up, the two sources become less attracted to each other and eventually drift apart again."

Lucy processed the information, then translated it into a phrase she could understand better. "So basically, the energy of the two stars created some sort of bond that joined them together, so to weaken the bond we have to weaken their energy, right?" Makarov merely grunted and nodded in reply. "Then what happened doesn't make sense, because Loke was unconscious after he fought Draco. He should have changed back before he returned to the Spirit World. In fact, he shouldn't have changed at all, he draws his power from Regulus and he had nothing left when he got knocked out, which means there was no energy to draw the other star towards Regulus."

"Lacking magical energy and lacking physical energy are two different things, Lucy. It is possible he still had a great deal of magic, but his body was too badly damaged to continue." Lucy continued to stare at her guild master, astounded by what he knew.

"Well… Loke runs off the power of Regulus, and Al Jabbah is currently joined with Regulus, so I guess all I would have to do is drain Loke's energy until the stars split apart on their own, right?"

"That would be a safe assumption." The old man replied.

"Just how do you plan on doing that?" Cana's voice rang from behind a new barrel.

"Temporary sleepover." The blonde replied with a smile. She was oblivious to the peculiar looks the two girls at the bar exchanged at her comment whilst she grabbed the golden key of Leo.

"Open, gate of the lion. Leo!"

Within an instant, the white lion stood before her once more. The contents of Cana's mouth once again sprayed all over the floor and she choked on the few droplets that slid down the wrong side of her throat.

"What the…?" A pair of shocked, blue eyes met clueless, green ones as Loke faced her and blinked a couple of times before turning back towards his master, purring as his tail swished back and forth playfully. Lucy noticed that lately he always seemed so pleased whenever she summoned him lately. She figured that being a lion slightly affected his moods and thought nothing more of it. "When I said that something was going to happen… I didn't… what… how?" Cana just continued to gape at Loke, who just ignored her and continued to stare at the girl that was now crouching slightly in front of him, her legs still straight but her hands resting on her knees as she lowered herself to be eye level with him.

"Loke," she said with a slight chuckle as he tilted his head slightly in response to his name, "how would you feel about staying here for a while?" The purring stopped and the spirit made a strange grunt that resembled a _'huh?',_ which made Lucy giggle. "I'll explain everything later, but basically if you stay here for a while you should eventually change back to normal. So, how 'bout it?" Loke blinked a few more times before he suddenly disappeared. Lucy was left staring at the blank spot where he once stood in disbelief. "Does… he not want to change back?" she asked in disappointment. As soon as she said that, he reappeared as quickly as he had left, his head held high and a look of satisfaction on his face.

"I guess he was eager to come through his own gate," Mirajane said with a laugh. Lucy sighed and smiled at Loke as she gently stroked the side of his face before turning back to her friends at the bar.

"Well, we're gonna head out for a bit. I just remembered something I wanted to do, so I'll probably see you all tomorrow." She waved to her guild mates as she headed towards the door, with Loke staying as close to her as insanely possible. When the doors of the guild shut behind her, Cana turned to Mirajane.

"Does she really think she's fooling anyone?"

"Maybe she's in denial."

"But why? I mean, aside from Loke's past, I don't see what the big deal is."

"Well there's also Happy she has to deal with." There was a moments silence before the two mages laughed a little in unison at the thought of the blue cat flying madly in circles around the guild the day that Lucy and Loke end up together, if it ever came. As they calmed down, Mirajane added "Maybe there's some rule against spirits and celestial mages falling in love, and Lucy's trying to avoid breaking it."

Cana stopped just as she was lifting her barrel backup to her lips and said "Is there a rule like that?"

The white haired girl scratched her cheek and said "I don't know," before turning to Makarov and repeating Cana's question.

He looked at her from behind his mug and replied sheepishly "I don't know." The two girls raised an eyebrow at his answer, not expecting it. "What? Don't give me that look, it's not like I have the answer to everything! Sure I know a bit about the spirits themselves, but when it comes to the rules I've got nothing. The rules are there for the celestial mages and the spirits to follow. They don't involve anyone else, so why should anyone else know them?" Makarov watched as their expressions changed at the enlightenment, then added "Besides, you girls know I don't give a crap about rules, whether they apply to me or not!" He then swallowed the last remnants of his beverage and jumped off the counter to wander up to the second floor of the guild. Mirajane and Cana exchanged glances before the card holder mage lifted her barrel once more and continued to down her alcohol.

Mirajane turned back to her cabinet of clean glasses and said quietly to herself "I wonder what Lucy was wanting to do?"

* * *

Well… this chapter kind of wrote itself. This isn't exactly what I had in mind to begin with, but it works better in my head than my original idea did… I can't even remember what the original idea was, it was that long ago XD

I guess that means I need to update more, huh?

Also, I did a little research to find out which stars were the closest to Regulus and Eltanin, took me a while -_-

If I'm wrong let me know and I'll change it.

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	9. Enduring the Stay

Oh boy, what a tiring week. My body seems to think sleep is overrated for some strange reason.

So sorry if my writing isn't quite up to scratch, but my head just isn't quite into it at the moment.

Disclaimer: Not awesome enough to own Fairy Tail or its characters… yes I did just call Hiro Mashima awesome…

**

* * *

Enduring the Stay**

Closing the door behind her, Lucy let out a heavy sigh. She didn't realise just how much attention she and her feline friend were going to attract, but then again it wasn't everyday that a lion just wandered the streets of Magnolia. They got just about every reaction possible, from looks of fear as people backed away to looks of excitement from kids that tried to run up to him before being yanked off the sidewalk by their parents. Either she was going to have to suck it up and get used to it or Loke was staying home for the duration of his visit, and she was pretty sure there was no way in hell he was sitting put for however long it was going to take him to change back. Loke was a patient guy, but even he had his limits.

She strode over to her desk, leaving her companion to do his own thing while he waited on her, and shuffled through the papers on her desk, trying to organize herself a little bit before grabbing a handful of her writing, straightening it into a neat pile and carefully placing it into her handbag, along with an inkwell and a pen. As quickly as she had arrived, she was ready to leave again.

"Loke, we're going back out now." She called out to the spirit, who was rather interested in something underneath her sofa, which was difficult to believe considering it was so close to the ground it was impossible to see what was underneath. But she could tell something was nagging at his sense of smell as his black nose poked at the base of the couch. With a little more force he bumped it, careful not to knock it over, and received a shrill cry in response followed by a grey blur shooting out from underneath, straight towards Lucy… until it got caught under a massive, swift paw that slammed down on top of it.

Lucy stared at the scene before her for a minute before her brain registered Loke's catch, to which she jumped and screamed "EEEEWWWW! GET RID OF IT! GET RID OF IT!" Loke looked down at the trapped, squealing mouse with a slightly pained look on his face, then looked around the room as if trying to find something that could help him, but to no avail. He then hesitantly lowered his head towards it, lifted it slightly, then lowered it again, and picked up the mouse between his massive teeth, only by the tail. With a scrunched up face, he hurriedly trotted over to the window above Lucy's bed and tossed his head, flinging the rodent out of the apartment. He returned to Lucy's side, his expression unchanged, with his tongue hanging out of his jaws as if to say '_Blech!_' Lucy took a deep sigh of relief with her unwanted visitor now gone. "I swear… I am going to kill Natsu for this…" Loke nodded in agreement. His face relaxed when Lucy ruffled his mane slightly and said "Come on, let's not worry about that until we see Natsu again." The loyal spirit nodded and obediently followed Lucy out onto the street.

They headed out of the apartment and made their way through the streets, Lucy glancing around nervously at the people that watched them with expressions similar to the ones they received before, whilst Loke just completely ignored everything around him except the girl he was following. He didn't seem to care that people were looking at him, but then again it was something he was kind of used to back when he was stuck in the human world and attracted attention for a living.

As they reached their destination, Loke stopped and looked around in awe at the place Lucy had brought him to, which he had never visited before. It was a giant park with lush green grass as soft as feathers, plenty of trees scattered throughout the area and a sparkling, clear blue lake in the middle. The spirit let out a noise that Lucy could have sworn vaguely sounded like a deep meow, and eagerly ran over to the lakeside. His master watched him as he frolicked all over the place and took in the sights, seemingly having fun, and a wide grin easily crept onto her face. She had never seen him so happy, as odd as it was that he was ecstatic over a park, but that was probably just the lion side of him. He had been acting a bit differently since he'd changed.

The blonde wandered over to the nearest tree, which delivered a considerable amount of shade, and sat on the ground, letting out a contented sigh as she slightly sank into the soft blades of grass and her back rested up against the thick trunk. She quickly pulled out her 'in-progress' chapter and set her inkwell up with her pen hovering above it as she scoured her brain for ideas. Her thoughts were interrupted at the sound of a scraping noise and a groan, and looked up to see a certain lion raised up onto his hind paws, using a nearby tree as a giant scratching post. Lucy just laughed as she watched him scratch at the trunk, his face looking as if it was sheer bliss as his sharp claws tore away the bark, his back slowly arching inwards. She couldn't deny that he looked adorable, but at the same time she couldn't help but think how ridiculous he looked when she remembered who he was. Eventually he lowered himself back onto all four paws and approached Lucy, letting out a huge yawn. As he sat down next to his owner, he curiously peered at the papers in her hand, which she held close to her chest when she noticed what he was doing. He let out a disgruntled moan and slightly lowered his head.

"No," she said firmly, "Levy's going to be the first person to read this, nobody else." The lion's ears lowered slightly and his eyes softened, making a _'Pretty please?'_ face, to which Lucy replied with a definite shake of her head. Loke huffed and lay down on the ground in defeat, slowly closing his eyes. Lucy sighed and relaxed, but yelped and tensed up again when a giant, furry head suddenly rested on her lap. Her first thought was that she was thankful she decided to wear shorts instead of a skirt, otherwise the situation could have gotten very awkward. Her next thought was to shove him aside, she still had a novel to write after all! But looking down at his peaceful face and listening to his steady breathing he seemed to be dozing off already, so she decided not to disturb him, her writing could wait for another time. She packed her stuff up, careful not to move too much, and rested a hand on the top of Loke's head. The two of them sat in peace for a while, with Lucy running her fingers through Loke's mane gently, earning her a contented purr from the big cat. She smiled and looked up around the park as she thought about the first time she had imagined coming here with Loke. Obviously it wasn't quite how she originally envisioned it, but it was still nice all the same and Loke did seem to be genuinely enjoying himself, leaning a little further into Lucy's lap as her delicate fingers gently swept across his fur.

Lucy looked down at her guardian spirit, and her gaze drifted to the Fairy Tail mark on his back. She was always curious as to where his was placed until he finally showed her and their guild mates. It was odd how it was in a spot where almost no-one could see it. Her hand slowly crept towards the tattoo and she let her finger lightly graze down the mark. The reaction she got from her lion was definitely not what she expected. With a short, loud roar Loke's entire body jumped, and his rough pink tongue fell out of the side of his mouth as he let out a long moan and his muscles finally relaxed from their spasm.

"Loke! Loke, are you alright?" Lucy held his limp head in both her hands, freaking out as she thought she'd accidentally hurt him. He lazily opened his eyes and let out a short groan, his tongue not moving. His face was similar to the one he had when he was scratching the tree. Lucy finally let go of the breath she was holding, he seemed to be okay, then she thought about how lucky she was that his paws weren't on her lap as well, because he would have easily punctured her legs in the small seizure he had, as they had unsheathed themselves rather quickly.

"Alright, let's go back home. The sun's just starting to set and it's going to get pretty dark soon." She slightly shifted her body, but Loke didn't move. "Come on, Loke." The celestial mage moved out from underneath his head, letting it slump to the ground, and picked up her bag. The lion spirit still didn't move. "Hey, are you okay?" She knelt down and shook him gently, becoming more and more concerned. After another minute or so, Loke slowly heaved himself back to his feet and shook his entire body like a wet dog. Lucy let out a deep sigh of relief and said "You scared me there. I thought I'd hurt you." Loke quickly shook his head, then rubbed up against her side just like a giant cat, letting her know he was perfectly fine. She cocked an eyebrow as she thought of what could have just happened. She'd heard about some people with sensitive spines, but she never would have picked Loke to be one of those, then again he was a feline. A tiny corner of her mind wondered if he would react the same if he was a human.

Shaking her head, she turned back towards the edge of the park and said "Come on, let's go." With a nod Loke began to follow behind his master, glancing over his shoulder to get one more look at the beautiful place they were leaving behind.

There weren't as many people out seeing as it was getting late, so the two had no troubles getting back to the apartment, but they decided to take the back roads just in case. Once back at home, Loke sat by the couch as Lucy heated some hamburger patties on her stove in the kitchen and placed them on two plates, one which she set down on the floor next to the dining room table to make it easier for Loke to reach. Judging by his reaction at the mouse earlier that afternoon his appetite seemed to be unchanged, otherwise he would have swallowed it whole, so Lucy figured she may as well be cooking for two. To her, it was strange how some things about him had changed, yet other things hadn't. But then again, it was only one star that had moved, so not everything was going to be different. Lucy sat down at the table, with Loke on the floor beside her, and they ate their dinner together quietly, Loke wolfing his down within less than a minute. Lucy could have also sworn she had one extra hamburger before she decided to get up and close the curtains…

Too tired to take a soak in her tub, the young mage just changed into her pajamas, while Loke waited in the other room of course, and pulled a few blankets out of the top of her cupboard for the white lion to sleep on, careful not to bring down the rest of the linen with them. She was a little uncertain about him staying in the same room as her, but she didn't have much choice since there was no space in the living room. Hell, it was hard enough for him to squeeze between the furniture. The bathroom was out of the question for the same reason, so that left the open floor space of her room. After she had prepared a temporary bed she opened the door and was almost knocked over as her guest bounded past her and leapt up onto the bed, instantly laying down and making himself at home.

"Ohhh no you don't!" Lucy said sternly, wrapping her arms around his middle and using all her weight to slowly slide him off her bed towards her, along with her blankets and sheets underneath him. "You are not sleeping up there!" Loke groaned in discontent and looked at her with upset eyes and slightly turned back ears. He really was stubborn. She turned and pointed at the pile of blankets, with one hand on her hip. His ears turned further backwards and he lowered his head a little. Lucy let out a sigh as her shoulders slouched. "Fine… I'll sleep on the floo-" He interrupted with a sharp roar and shot past her onto the bed she made on the carpet, he kneaded the cotton to make it more comfortable before he laid down, crossed his paws and grunted as he lowered his head onto them. "Good boy," Lucy chuckled. He just huffed in reply, obviously not entirely happy with the setup she had arranged. She knelt down, stroked his head and whispered "Goodnight Loke." He growled lightly and pressed his head a little further into her hand before she pulled away and settled into her own bed after fixing it up.

It took her a while to go to sleep because her mind was buzzing with many thoughts, most of them about Loke. She wondered how long it was going to take him to change back, and hoped it wouldn't require draining him of just about all of his energy. He could last three years in the human world, so changing back could take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months. Lucy shook her head at the thought. Two stars holding each other together would require a tremendous amount of energy, so hopefully it wouldn't take too much for them to eventually let go of each other. As Lucy's thought processes on the Leo constellation began to slow down she eventually dozed off to the sound of Loke's heavy breathing just a metre or so away from her.

**-THE NEXT DAY-**

Lucy wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to get up so soon, but she couldn't ignore the fuzzy sensation on the side of her face and eventually opened her chocolate brown eyes to the sight of Loke sitting beside her bed, and the feeling of him rubbing his face against hers and slightly tickling her cheek with his whiskers. She giggled as she sat up and gently wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer and rest her head in his soft mane. She could feel him purring lightly against her, and just wanted to go back to sleep the way she was, despite being in a half sitting position.

'_Maybe I could get used to waking up to this for a little bit._' She thought as she snuggled a little more into the makeshift pillow, feeling the vibrations of his purr run through her own body. Eventually she awoke a little more from him constantly shifting in her hold and not being able to sit still for long, but he was still disappointed when she let go of him. She brushed off some stray strands of fur that had made their way onto her pajamas and grabbed her necessities for her much needed shower, while Loke sat down and waited patiently on his bed for her. After Lucy had freshened up, and the two of them had filled their stomachs with bacon and eggs, they were ready to head to the guild. As Lucy opened the door to her apartment she was met with an unexpected visitor.

"Lucy Heartfilia?"

The blonde blinked, with a clueless expression on her face, and replied "Yes?" She noticed the way the stranger leant to the side, looked curiously at Loke who stood behind her, looking just as confused as his owner, then straightened once again to look her in the eye once more.

"I am a messenger from the council. We have been notified of some concerns regarding your… pet."

* * *

Those last few paragraphs are rather rushed and I'm not entirely proud of them, but the chapter was getting pretty long, and the more I proof read stuff the more I mess it up until it's ruined beyond repair. Believe me, this happens to just about every story I write… which is why I'm trying not to do it to this one. I can get rather picky and just kill stuff, so I've been trying not to reread my stuff too much. Just the spell checks! But like I said, I've also been losing a heck of a lot of sleep. I think since my last update Tuesday (at about 1am where I am) I've gotten probably 10 hours of sleep. When uni starts back my sleeping pattern should hopefully fix itself.

Also I feel bad for what I did to the poor mouse… animal cruelty aside, hands up who wants their own lion now! o/

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	10. Council's Ruling

Sorry this one is so late!

I've had a crap couple of weeks, so the ideas just haven't been coming to me as well lately. But trust me, I'm definitely finishing this! Because I know the frustration of getting into a story just to have the author suddenly stop writing… -_-

So I'm not gonna do that to you guys! Because you've all been so awesome and you don't deserve to be left hanging like that forever!

Disclaimer: Like other people, I wish I owned Fairy Tail, but I don't

**

* * *

Council's Ruling**

"WE'RE BACK!"

"Welcome back guys!"

The guild was once again bustling, being a beautiful day around lunch time. Some of the mages were sitting at the tables, eating their serves of food, while others huddled around the request board, almost fighting each other for the jobs pinned up for grabs. A few people enjoyed their time outside, relaxing around the pool and enjoying the calm weather. The recently returned 'Strongest Team in Fairy Tail', casually, but noisily, made their way to the bar where Mirajane was waiting, starving for some food.

"How was your mission in Tatakai?" Mirajane asked with a sweet smile on her face.

Natsu sat down on a stool, his head slumping onto the bench and replied "Booooriiiiing…"

Erza perched herself between him and Gray, and added "The client posted the wrong destination for his escort in the request, so it took longer than we were expecting."

"Not to mention the bandits that ambushed us halfway." Gray nonchalantly said. He then froze under Erza's sudden glare and slowly looked down to find the cause of her anger being that he had spontaneously stripped again, and quickly rustled through his bag for anything to wear so she would calm down before she hurt him.

"Yeah, but they were so weak…" Natsu mumbled in disinterest. He quickly perked up as the young barmaid placed a plate of his favorite, fiery food right in front of him, and he messily devoured it within minutes. Erza shook her head and slapped the salamander over the back of the head for his lack of manners, smacking his face right into his plate.

She then turned to her fellow S-class mage and asked "How has Lucy been doing without us?"

"Oh, she's been just fine! She's been keeping herself very busy with Loke."

The three mages' eyes widened in unison.

Happy jumped up and down in glee, shouting "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" In his excitement, his wings sprouted from his back and he darted outside, circling the guild as many times as possible with his newfound excess energy. The others were still speechless as their jaws dropped, a few crumbs of food tumbled out of Natsu's mouth. None of them knew how to respond, as they were unsure as to whether it really meant what they thought. They just exchanged gob smacked glances, with Mirajane looking at them, clueless to their reaction.

There was a sudden bang against the guild doors, and the sound of grunting and groaning from outside. Silence overwhelmed the guild as their attention turned towards the source of the racket.

"Come… on!" There was a light scraping sound and a deep growl, along with the straining voice of a girl. "Stop being… such… a baby…" The silent questions hanging in the room, regarding the noise outside, were answered when the doors opened to reveal a rather exhausted Lucy dragging, with great difficulty, a giant, white lion inside. The two stopped struggling against each other upon entry and glanced over the confused faces of everyone in the guild. The silence was broken when Mirajane cheerfully welcomed them.

"Hi Lucy! Hi Loke!" Then there was another silence, followed by a few snickers which quickly erupted into laughter. Natsu fell off his stool and began rolling on the floor in a fit. Even Gray and Erza couldn't help themselves. Lucy just sighed as Loke let out a small, pitiful cry and shrank behind her to make himself as small as possible, his ears flattening against his head, which was now restrained with a brand new muzzle. Accepting defeat, he continued to hide behind his master as she made her way across the room to where her team sat, ignoring the obviously amused mages around her. Mirajane quickly moved over to Lucy and smiled down at Loke, who was now trying to curl up into a ball.

"He looks so cute!" Lucy rolled her eyes, seeing as Mirajane had been saying that about her spirit since she first saw him in his lion form. "Is that a new accessory for him?"

The celestial mage slapped her forehead and replied "No… THIS…" she held up a long piece of leather that was attached to the back of Loke's muzzle, "is us getting a leash law enforced on us."

"Oh? What happened?"

"Well…"

**-THREE DAYS AGO-**

"I am a messenger from the council. We have been notified of some concerns regarding your… pet."

Lucy and Loke blinked at the stranger in unison, then looked at each other.

"Concerns? He's only been like this for a day…" Lucy said, feeling very confused.

"Yes, but many people, especially parents, fear for everyone's safety with a lion freely walking the streets." The young blonde stared at the messenger for a few seconds before waving her arms back and forth madly.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Loke isn't an ordinary lion, he's one of my celestial spirits! He's staying with me for a while until he changes back to normal and can go back home. Watch…" She turned to her furry companion and, much to his surprise, spread her arms wide open and said "Give me a hug." Delighted, he raised himself up onto his back legs and wrapped his front paws around her shoulders, rubbing his face against hers. She laughed and pushed him off her before once again facing the council messenger.

"That is impressive, however…" Lucy and Loke's faces fell at the negative turn. "Whether he is an ordinary lion or a magical lion, he is considered a major hazard as long as he is roaming the streets in such a state. Therefore…" She clapped her hands, and within seconds several military mages appeared from around the corners, surrounding the area.

"I am impounding him until you take appropriate measures to properly restrain him for your outings."

**-PRESENT-**

"So I had to go down to the local pet store and buy a muzzle that doesn't even let him open his mouth and a leash that suppresses his strength and amplifies my own before I could go and get him from the council." Lucy sighed, leaning down onto the bench and dropping the leash at her feet. Her faithful spirit was curled up between her stool and the bar, looking like he would rather to go back home than deal with the humiliation he was suffering. The laughter had finally died down, but he could still feel the entire guild staring at him. He felt his pride slowly die away. "One lousy day and he ends up at the pound…" Lucy mumbled into the wooden bench.

"Oh? I've never heard of a leash like that." Mirajane said, interested.

"It makes it virtually impossible for him to pull away from me, and makes it really easy for me to pull him along. It's designed so weaker people can control larger animals with enormous amounts of strength." Lucy looked down at the lion on the ground, who was lying down and attempting to hide his face under his paws.

"This… is really… Loke?" Natsu asked, out of breath, as he approached Lucy, entering the discussion.

"Oh yeah, you haven't been here, so you wouldn't have seen him like this." Natsu crouched down in front of the lion and brought his face closer, his nose twitching slightly. Loke didn't move an inch, he just stared back at the fire mage through half closed eyelids.

"Well, it definitely smells like him!" He announced to the rest of the team.

"How did this happen to him?" Erza asked, unable to take her eyes off their former guild mate.

"Loooong story…" The blonde replied in a tired voice. She was getting sick of explaining the situation over and over again. The conversation was interrupted when Happy finally returned from his laps.

"Natsu! Natsu! You should have seen! Juvia just pushed Cana into the pool and…" The little blue cat's rant stopped the moment he laid his eyes on the lion on the floor. Happy froze for a bit, but gasped and lunged at Loke, shouting "A GROWN-UP CAT!" and latching onto him. Loke growled and stood up, shaking his coat to try and force the little, excited cat to let go, but failed. Lucy was a little more successful in yanking him off her poor spirit by the tail.

"Happy, leave him alone!" She scolded.

"But… but…"

"Yeah Happy," Natsu added as he looked over Lucy's shoulder at his companion. "Loke's not feeling so good."

"EH?" The winged cat's eyes widened at the realization of who the lion on the ground was. "That's Loke?" The humans around him nodded, then his mouth turned upwards into a large grin. "Cooool…" He swiftly jumped out of the Celestial mage's hold and back down in front of Loke and said "Can you do this all the time? How come you haven't turned into a cat before?" Loke merely looked at the small feline before him with a look of annoyance and snorted, blowing Happy back a little bit, before turning away and continuing to sulk. Normally he was patient with Happy, but he just wasn't in the mood at that time. "Lucy! Loke's being mean!" Happy cried.

"He's been through a lot lately, just leave him alone." She said sternly. Happy slowly nodded and jumped up onto the bench next to Natsu.

"So… why is he here? Shouldn't he be in the Spirit World?" Gray asked before yelping in pain as Erza smacked his hand, which had been creeping towards the top button of his shirt.

Deciding to give them the short version, Lucy replied "Basically we believe Loke will turn back to his human self if he stays here in the human world for a while, away from the Spirit World." She sighed as she received several confused expressions. "Look, I can't explain it all now, but that's how it's supposed to work. Anyway…" She stood up before crouching down and retrieving the leather lead that sat on the floor, "I have to pick up a few things from the stores, so we'll be off now." She turned to walk away, but then faced her teammates once more, pointing a finger at them. "And I don't want to see any unexpected visitors when I get home. Understand?"

"But Lucy," Natsu said cheerfully, "you should expect us to be around there lots by now!"

"Arrrgh!" She clenched her fist as she growled. "I don't want to see you guys, or any evidence of you guys being there, when I get home, understand?" The four mages she was glaring at all nodded in unison. "Good." Lucy huffed and quickly tugged on the lead, jerking Loke out of his own little world and signaling him to follow behind. There were a few last little chuckles as they walked the long, painful walk to the doors and out onto the streets of Magnolia.

"I'm sorry Loke," Lucy sighed, looking down at her friend, who hung his head as he walked beside her on a slack leash. "I didn't expect Natsu and the others to be back because they'd been gone longer than they said they would." Loke growled in response and gave a small, forced smile, although it was hard to see through the muzzle. "And I didn't expect the guild to be so packed either. This is probably going to ruin your image for a while." The two of them sighed and continued to walk in silence for a while, before they finally stopped outside a shop. They stood staring at the products in the window for a minute before entering.

Upon walking through the door, a loud voice boomed "Out! No pets allowed!" The two jumped at the sudden outburst and quickly backed up, fearing the elderly lady's wrath. They then looked back at the window, where a small, easy to miss sign that said 'No pets permitted on premises' sat. Lucy sighed and stared at a nearby lamp post, then at her spirit.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you, but I don't want to have to deal with the council again, and I'm sure you don't either." Loke nodded and shivered slightly. His experience at the pound wasn't exactly the best, seeing as the council didn't really have any respect for animals and didn't give him food or water, so he let her fasten the lead around the pole, tugging on it a couple of times to make sure it wouldn't come undone so she looked like a responsible owner. She petted him a few times on the head and whispered "I'll be real quick, I promise." Loke moaned and watched her walk out of sight before sitting against the lamp post, observing his surroundings, grateful that there was no-one around that he recognized.

Lucy reentered the store, bowed lowly and quickly said "I'm really sorry, I honestly didn't see that sign! It won't happen again!" The old lady behind the counter just huffed and turned to the shelves behind her, leaving Lucy to scour the store for the items she needed. _'Hopefully I won't need to come here again."_ She thought to herself, slightly offended by the lady's rude attitude. She looked out the window as she heard the sound of children yelling in the street, and saw three boys running around in a circle, occasionally getting in the way of people passing by. She smiled, but then continued searching for what she came for.

Levy wanted some strange herb that could only be purchased in that store for some strange spell she wanted to try, but was too busy to pick it up so she had asked Lucy to buy it for her. The teenage mage didn't really know what she was looking for, so she turned to the shopkeeper and politely asked "Excuse me, do you stock Girdenweed?" The woman pointed a wrinkled finger at the shelves on the far wall, in between two tables. Lucy eventually found the labeled item, quickly snatched up a couple just to make sure she had enough and paid the old lady, who glared at her until she had finally left the shop.

Upon exiting, Lucy tucked the herbs into her handbag and shivered as she pulled her jacket tighter around her body. The sky had darkened and the wind had picked up a little, but it was what Lucy saw, or didn't see, which made her blood run cold.

The lamp post was still there, but Loke was missing, muzzle, leash and all.

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Oh boy did this take some effort to write. I kept getting distracted by other things while I was trying to write this chapter.

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	11. MIA

I managed to update within a week for once!

Been thinking about this chapter and how to do it all week, especially at work because it's so boring. Yeah, I know I shouldn't be, but my job gets kinda dull after a while without a distraction of some sort.

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now that I don't own Fairy Tail

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MIA**

"LOKE!"

Lucy raced through the streets as fast her legs would allow her, pushing and shoving past the people on the footpaths as she frantically searched for her missing spirit. She figured that he couldn't have gotten too far, seeing as she was only in the shop for roughly twenty minutes. It was a mystery to her how he had gone anywhere in the first place. She could've sworn she'd tied him securely to the street lamp.

"LOKE!"

She only seemed to be succeeding in attraction the attention of people she passed, looking at her with confused expressions, but she ignored them. She had more important matters to deal with. If the council found out that her 'pet' lion was wandering around on the loose again they would both be in so much trouble! She didn't even want to think about the consequences!

"LOKE!"

The teenager stopped out the front of a clothing store and leant up against the window, her hands on her thighs as she bent over and struggled for breath. She didn't know how long she had been running, and still had no luck finding Loke. How hard could it be to find a white lion in Magnolia? She felt a single tear roll down her cheek as she began to feel hopelessness overwhelm her.

"Loke…" she sobbed quietly, holding a hand up to her face so no-one could see her crying, "Where are you? You stupid idiot…"

She was brought to her senses as she could hear a faint, yet familiar, groan coming from the nearby park, the same one Lucy had taken Loke to several days ago. She could also hear the sound of children's laughter and yelling, followed by a rather loud splashing sound. The blonde mage stood up straight once more and quickly followed the sounds until she could see the lake. There, crawling out of the edge of the water was her spirit, still restrained with his muzzle and lead, which was being held by the three same boys she saw outside the shop window that Loke was tied up outside of. They couldn't have been any older than Romeo.

Loke lifted himself up onto solid ground and hastily shook his coat as dry as possible, and the water droplets flew up onto the surrounding kids, who yelped and held their arms up in front of their faces. They then laughed and tugged on the lead together, slowly dragging Loke along as he tried to resist, desperately digging his claws into the dirt, but the magical lead made it impossible for him to resist the pull. He growled and tossed his head back and forth, trying as hard as he could to back away, but with one last heave the boys managed to make him lose his balance and he fell back into the freezing cold lake. The boys could not stop laughing as Loke's head broke the surface and he gasped for breath before he paddled back to the edge of the lake, shivering as he scrambled out once more.

Lucy was relieved that she had managed to track down her feline friend, but became absolutely furious when she saw what the three children were doing to him. It was obvious he was not enjoying the torture they were putting him through, and there was nothing he could do to stop them either. Fueled by rage, but remembering who she was dealing with, Lucy stomped over to the kids, who stopped and turned at the sudden presence behind them, whilst Loke just raised his head, his ears flicked forward, and he let out a cry of delight.

"Excuse me," Lucy said calmly with a hint of anger in her voice, as she could get in trouble if she lost her temper completely with just a few children. "That is my lion and you need to give him back."

Two of the boys looked at each other, clinging more tightly to Loke's lead, whilst the third just shrugged and shot back "Finders, keepers. We found him in the street, so we get to keep him." The celestial mage's eye twitched slightly at the nerve of such a young kid.

"That's not how it works in the adult world." She said, slowly losing her patience as she pointed directly at the boy in front of her. "What you have just done is commit an act of theft. You could go to jail for that." She was surprised when he just laughed back at her, his hands on his hips, still clutching the leash in one hand.

"My dad is a policeman, I'll get off easy."

"Oh really? I'm pretty sure your father has no control over what the magic council decides." Lucy replied, crossing her arms. "And I intend to go and tell them what happened if you don't return my lion to me. After all they are involved in any magical incidents, and the lion that you have stolen is a magical one." It was then that the other two boys started as they noticed the back of her right hand.

"Mitsuo," one of them whispered, "she's a Fairy Tail mage. We could get into big trouble for this." She smirked slightly as the smile on Mitsuo's face faltered. He growled a little before he angrily threw his part of the lead to the ground.

"Tch, whatever. The stupid thing wouldn't play with us anyway." The other two boys behind him hastily dropped the rest of the lead, and the three ran towards the other side of the park, in the direction of the urban part of Magnolia. They were probably running off back home. Lucy smiled down at Loke, glad that it was so easy to get him back.

He bounded over to her and went to sidle up next to her, but she quickly jumped back and said "Ohhh no you don't! Not while you're soaking wet!" The lion spirit groaned before shaking his coat off once more, slightly drenching his owner with the water that flew off his fur. He was looking less like a majestic lion and more like a dirty, shaggy ball of fluff with dirt fusing with the wet coat and becoming slightly muddy. Lucy knelt down next to him, placed a hand on either side of his slightly brown face and said "Look at you, your filthy!" His fur wasn't soft and smooth anymore, it felt more like the hair of a rag doll. "Come on, let's go home and get you cleaned up." Loke nodded and obediently followed as Lucy picked up the end of his leash and led him down the streets, towards her home.

It took them a little while to get back to her place, and they could both feel the stares that strangers gave them as they passed by. The mud in Loke's fur had begun to solidify, and was starting to pull on the ends of his fur, becoming slightly painful. He was relieved when they finally got back home, and Lucy was very pleased, but also found it quite funny, when Loke wiped his enormous paws at the door mat, ridding them of as much grime as he possibly could to avoid dirtying the room so much. After Lucy had tossed her bag onto her living room table, the two of them made their way to her bathroom, which the lion had never been in before.

The young blonde ran water into the tub until it was about half full, then coaxed her lion spirit to hop in. He slowly set one paw in, a little uncertain after his afternoon experience at the lake, then sighed at the welcomed warmth and lifted the rest of his body in and sat down, raising the water level up to nearly three quarters full. He gratefully shook his head and smacked his lips a few times after his master had removed the muzzle from his head, and he opened his jaws wide to stretch them since they had been clamped shut all day.

"Now, you're not allergic to lavender, are you?" Lucy asked as she reached for her shampoo. She was probably going to need the whole bottle. Loke shook his head, spraying more water from his body. He closed his eyes and lowered his face as Lucy began to squeeze the white liquid onto the top of his mane and down along his back, before setting the bottle down and lathering his coat. It quickly turned into yellow colored foam as it merged with the dirt that he had accumulated. She smiled as she watched his face, his lips turned upwards into a smile and a quiet purr rose from his throat, seemingly enjoying the massaging feeling that Lucy was making as she scrubbed his fur clean.

After she was sure she had rubbed the shampoo in enough she grabbed the rinse hose that sat next to the tub and turned it on. The sudden pressurized water startled the lion, causing him to jump, but he quickly settled down again. As the foam was washed away, Loke's brilliant white coat could once again be seen, glistening from the layer of water that clung to his fur. Once he was cleansed of all the scum, he stepped out of the bath and shook his body once more, completely soaking Lucy and all the walls of the room. She sighed, at her dirty bathroom, but shook her head as she rationalized that Loke had had a rough couple of days. She grabbed the nearest towel, which was now slightly damp, and dried off the spirit's fur as best she could before she pulled out her hairdryer to finish the job properly.

After making a half-assed attempt at cleaning up her bathroom, she led Loke out into her bedroom, where he lay down on his bed and she fumbled through her drawers until she found a cat grooming brush, which she had used a couple of times on Happy. It was his reward for behaving himself whenever he was around, which was still very rare but not as much now, and it always made his fur smooth, plus he enjoyed the feel of it. It was a little small for Loke, but she still decided to give it a try, since she didn't want his coat to become matted. She softly swept the brush through his mane, careful not to pull on his hair, and watched as his eyelids slowly slid shut. She then turned her gaze to his Fairy Tail tattoo and giggled as an idea came to mind. Feeling a little cheeky, she gently brushed between his shoulder blades. In response, Loke jumped as he let out a short roar, then his body slumped, his legs sprawled out to the sides. Lucy laughed.

"Haha, I'm sorry Loke, I just couldn't help myself!" The lion let out a moan as he glared in her direction, but didn't move an inch as she continued to brush him down. The two remained silent as Lucy continued her tedious task, whilst Loke remained unmoving on the floor, despite the fact that the paralyzing effects had long worn off. Eventually the blonde rolled him onto his back and brushed his underside, occasionally getting lightly whacked by a large paw as the giant lion stretched and twisted beneath her, letting out a deep purr once more. After over an hour, Lucy sat up and wiped her brow.

"There, done!" Loke rolled back over and sat up before her. She looked at his shiny coat for a minute before setting the grooming brush down and cuddling up to her lion spirit. She breathed in the scent of lavender that coated his body and relished the feeling of his soft fur on her skin once more. "Mmm, much better!" She felt his head rest over her shoulder and against her back as she wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. She began to feel a little drowsy and pulled herself away before she fell asleep on him again, like she had nearly done so many times before. She stretched her arms upwards, feeling tired after putting so much effort into cleaning Loke up, and was startled when she looked over at her clock.

"Holy crap! I didn't realise it was so late!" She didn't even remember switching the light on as she looked out the window and clearly saw the moon high up in the night sky. After realizing the time, she let out a huge yawn. "Man, I'm so tired I don't even feel like cooking dinner." She slowly got up, flicked off the light and clambered into bed, snuggling into her pillow. For some reason it didn't feel as comfortable as it normally did, and Lucy tossed and turned for a while before she rolled over to face the floor.

"Hey Loke?" She received a tired grunt in reply. "Do you want to sleep up here? I mean, it is kind of cold and-" she didn't even get to finish her sentence before Loke growled and happily leapt up onto the bed, just narrowly avoiding jumping on Lucy and hastily settling himself down next to her, resting one paw over her petite body. She giggled and ran her fingers through his mane once more before taking a hold of his face and whispering "Goodnight Loke," and placing a gentle kiss on the top of his nose. He purred and gentle nuzzled her face affectionately before he curled around her protectively, much like a lion would with his lioness, and drifted off to sleep. Lucy smiled contently, she felt so warm and safe with him, it was like something she had never felt with anyone before, and she just wished she could feel like that forever. She nestled her head into his chest, absorbing the warmth that emanated from his body, and dozed off to the steady beat of his heart falling into sync with hers.

* * *

I know you guys have been wanting some more stuff to go on between those two, even though I didn't really give you much this time. Who knows, maybe I'll do some more in the next chapter… maybe…

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	12. Our Word Is Our Bond

You guys have NO idea how much time I've spent on this chapter just trying to write it out, let alone going back over it and fixing it up. This is definitely my longest chapter to date, although not necessarily my best (but that's up to you guys to decide)

Considering how much effort I put into it I wish I could have made it a bit better, but I just had no idea how to do that -_-

I hope you guys enjoy it all the same!

Disclaimer: *sigh* Do I really need to say it again? I don't own it!

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Our Word Is Our Bond**

Sunlight peeked through the curtains and once again shone on the blonde girl's face, awakening her from her sweet slumber. She moaned and her dark brown eyes slowly appeared from underneath her heavy eyelids. The first thing she saw was the unoccupied pile of blankets on the floor where her faithful lion spirit had been staying, and remembered that she had invited him up into her bed the previous night. The next thing she saw as she rolled a little more onto her side was the human arm that was draped over her waist.

Wait… Human?

Lucy quickly, but carefully, rolled over a little more to get a good look at the person the arm belonged to, and was quite surprised to find Loke finally back in his human form, lying behind her, snoring lightly as he continued to sleep. Lucy figured he must have changed back in the middle of the night while they were sound asleep.

It almost sounded like he was still purring in his sleep. He was in the same clothes he had fought Draco in, and had even miraculously recovered his sunglasses, which were askew on his face and threatened to fall off to the side. A large smile crept onto Lucy's face at the sight of her friend, and she reached out and slowly removed the sunglasses from his face. Just as she pulled them off, they bumped against his nose, causing him to stir and awaken. The young girl, slightly panicked and unsure of how to respond, quickly rolled back over and attempted to jump out of bed, but was stopped when the arm around her waist snaked around her a little more, tightening its grip and preventing her from escaping.

"Where are you going?" Loke mumbled from behind her. Lucy could feel her cheeks redden at the feeling of his warm breath on the back of her neck.

"Umm… to… get a shower?" She replied in an unsure voice.

"Ohh, why don't you stay here for a bit longer?" He lowered his head so it was touching the back of Lucy's hair.

"Loke, I don't think this is such a good idea…" She wrapped her fingers around his forearm, trying to wrench herself from his hold.

"That's not what you were saying last night." He whispered in a playful tone. The blush on Lucy's face deepened in color, and she was grateful that he couldn't see it. She tried once more to free herself, but to no avail. She sighed after once again failing to get away from him. "Please? Just for a little while." His voice had changed to that of a pleading one, and she just couldn't say no to him anymore.

"Fine…" She grumbled as she relaxed into his embrace a little. Lying there, she still felt the same warmth coming from Loke that he had as a lion. To her, it was a comforting warmth that melted her bad mood away, and she couldn't resist the sense of security it gave her.

After a few silent minutes, she was able to wriggle around in his grip to face him and place her hands on his chest, and felt her heart speed up a little when she saw the smile on his face. It wasn't one of his overly charming ones that he used when he was trying to get with a girl, but a softer, more genuine one. Lucy could recall seeing it one other time, when he was finally able to return to the Spirit World for the first time in three years and became her spirit. It was the smile she loved the most, but rarely got to see. As he looked down at her she quickly hid her face in his chest so he couldn't see the red tinge in her cheeks. There was a light chuckle before she felt him rest his head just above hers, and both of his arms wound around her tighter.

"Ahh, you can be so cute sometimes." There was another moment of silence before he added "That's why I love you so much."

It was completely out of the blue, just like the other hundred times or so that he'd said it, but at the same time it felt different somehow. It sounded much more… sincere. It was unlike those other times where it sounded like he was playing around with her heart like he always did. Lucy slowly looked up to meet his gaze and stared deeply into his glittering, green eyes, something she'd never done since he'd always hide them behind his dark shades. Looking at his eyes and his smile, and feeling the way he held her… it just made it all so easy to believe him for once. But she still had no idea what to do, and didn't know whether or not she really should let herself fall for him this time.

"Loke," she whispered softly. He gave his full attention to her troubled face. Lucy took a deep breath and thought through what she wanted to say, one last time, before she spoke up again. "Should we really be doing this? I mean, I'm just a human and you're…" She paused, as if she didn't want to say those words.

'_You're a spirit…'_

Instead she just said "There's got to be some rule or… or something against humans being… so close to their spirits." Loke stared at her for a few seconds before slowly shaking his head a few times, which shocked Lucy. "Huh? Th-there's nothing? Are you sure?"

He looked back at her, dead serious, and replied "I know the rules better than you, and I know for sure that it's never been done. Most celestial mages treat their spirits like crap, so why should we care about them any more than we need to?" The teenager closed her eyes and lowered her head to try and process the information presented to her, but looked back up when she heard her spirit's voice mutter in her ear "I guess they didn't account for someone like you." She just lay there in his arms whilst he gazed back at her affectionately. "You're special Lucy. We all love you as much as you love us, possibly even more for some of us." She really wanted to believe him, but she didn't think she could take the heartache if such a rule was suddenly put into place.

She moved a tiny bit closer to his body and shakily asked "If… if we did… fall in love…" Loke raised an eyebrow at her, suddenly more intrigued, "would they make relationships between humans and spirits against the law?" It seemed like it took him forever to reply, as the pounding of her own heartbeat in her ears almost drove her insane while she waited for him to say something.

"I'd say so, yeah." He felt her clench onto his shirt, wincing from the reply she received as she hid her face once more to hold back any tears that dared threaten to spill.

"So then… what… would happen to us after?" She asked, even though she was almost certain she didn't want to hear the answer to that question. She felt his chest rise as he took a breath and hummed before responding.

"Most likely nothing." He said nonchalantly. There was a long moment of silence before her head suddenly shot back up to look at him with bewilderment. "First case scenarios are usually an exception to the rule, except for the likes of theft, murder or manslaughter when they were put into place. And besides…" he smiled down at her once more "the Spirit King may be strict when it comes to law enforcement, but he's not heartless. Chances are he'll leave us be." Loke chuckled as he watched several emotions flicker across the face of the girl in his arms, until she suddenly clutched onto her shoulders and buried her face into his neck for several minutes. When she finally pulled away and looked back up at him she had a smile on her face that could have lit up the room brighter than his magic. Staring at such beauty, he wished that he could just remain that way with her forever and never let go.

Loke could no longer take the distance between them, so he closed the small gap and captured her lips in a gentle kiss. At that point Lucy's mind stopped working altogether. She closed her eyes and kissed him back as she wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him pull her even closer to his body as his hands moved up her back slowly. As he deepened the kiss she could feel his warmth spread to her and flood her entire body, flowing to every last inch of her and making her tingle all over. It was like something she had never felt before and she didn't want it to end.

After a few minutes they slowly pulled apart. Lucy was breathing heavily whilst Loke began trailing more small kisses along her thin jaw line and down her smooth neck. Lucy shuddered as he grazed over a particularly sensitive spot, and couldn't contain the quiet moan she let out when he nipped it gently, leaving a light mark. Her hands rose up and tangled in his ginger locks, only to find that his hair was as smooth and silky as his lion mane was.

"Loke…"

Suddenly Lucy felt the warmth fade away as he pulled away from her, ignoring her discontented whines as his gaze shifted towards the window.

Loke sighed as he turned back to Lucy and said "Natsu's coming."

"What?"

"He'll be here any moment."

The mood died that instant as Lucy jumped up and off the bed at the sudden statement, fearing what Natsu or Happy, who was bound to be with him, would think if they saw her in close proximity of her spirit. Sure enough, within a couple more seconds, the pink haired dragonslayer landed on the windowsill gracefully, courtesy of his winged feline companion.

"Hey Lucy!" Natsu waved energetically. He almost fell off his perch as a pillow hit him in the face, but was caught by Happy at the last second. The pillow, much to Lucy's relief, bounced back and landed on the very end of the bed. "Heyyy… what was that for?"

"For not using the frickin' door!" Lucy screeched. She was seriously pissed off at Natsu for interrupting her time with Loke, as well as a number of other things she still had to bring up with him… like the godforsaken mouse that had invaded her apartment! The boy in question just cocked his head in confusion.

"What are you talking about? I never use the door…"

"EXACTLY!" Natsu just shrugged before he looked to the side and saw the other occupant of the room, who was now sitting up against the wall.

"Oh, hey Loke! Weren't you a lion yesterday?" Loke just winced at the memory of the whole guild seeing him wearing a muzzle and knowing full well who he was.

"Ohhh, why'd you have to change back?" Happy pouted, finally plopping Natsu back on the sill so he could jump into the room. "Cats are so much better than people!" Lucy shot a glare at the blue cat, but he didn't seem to notice as he just flew over and landed in front of the lion spirit, who gently patted his head to cheer him up a little.

Natsu turned his attention back to Lucy and said "Erza sent me to pass on a message." He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, clearly from the request board, and smoothed it out for the blonde mage to read. "We're setting off on another mission in a few hours. And she said you have to come this time since you've had more than enough time off for recovery."

"Seriously... clearing out bandits?" Lucy sighed. She didn't notice Loke as his face fell at the mention of the job.

"C'mon Lucy! It'll be fun!"

"That's what you always say…"

"That's because it always is!" Lucy shook her head at the boy's overly excited attitude. To her it seemed like he had nothing better to do with his life than go out on jobs so that he could beat people up and break more stuff. It was what he was best at, after all. She wanted to just outright say no and request an easier job, but she, along with everyone else, did not wish to get on Erza's bad side. Everyone in the room knew what kind of wrath she was capable of.

"Fine, fine… Tell Erza I'll be at the guild soon."

"Great!" Natsu slapped Lucy's back, knocking her to the floor once more, and ran back to the window. But before taking his leave he turned back to Lucy and asked "By the way, did you get attacked yesterday or something?"

"Huh?" Lucy was wide-eyed at Natsu's random question, until he pointed at his neck.

"You've got a bruise right here." Lucy slapped the side of her neck to cover the mark caused by Loke, ignoring the culprit's stifled laughter as the fire mage just stared at her with a clueless expression before shaking his head and turning back to the window.

"Let's go Happy!"

"Aye sir!" The little blue cat grabbed a tight hold of the back of his vest before sprouting his wings and taking off to carry them back towards Fairy Tail.

"See ya soon Lucy!"

Lucy groaned before picking herself up off the floor, although she had to put little effort in as Loke gently held her by her arms and lifted her back onto her feet. Before she could move again he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, rested his head on her shoulder and sighed.

"What's up?" She asked, her hands gently holding onto his. Loke mumbled something incoherent into her shoulder. "Say that again?"

"Another mission…" Lucy's eyebrows furrowed together, wondering why he would be so upset about going on a job, seeing as it had been so long since they had gone out and done one. "It's just… ah, forget it. It's nothing." He slowly let her go and began to back away.

"No, what is it?" Lucy quickly spun around and stopped him in his tracks by placing her hands on his shoulders. "Tell me, what's wrong?" Loke avoided her gaze as he turned to face the ground, an upset look etched on his handsome face. She gently rested a hand on his cheek and turned his head to look at her. She could see a lot of hurt in his eyes. "Loke?"

"It's just… before the whole 'incident', where I changed, you never had any spare time to spend with me…"

Lucy was taken aback by his words. Before their last few missions she had noticed his change in behavior at the mention of the requests, but she could never figure out why. It wasn't like she never saw him, seeing as how he could come and go as he pleased and considering how much she needed him to fight for her on a regular basis, but when she thought back on it she had realized she hadn't taken much time off back then and hadn't paid much attention to him in the few spare moments she did get. She was pulled out of her thoughts when he continued.

"I mean, I'm your friend as well, I'm as close to you as Natsu, Gray and Erza are." His gaze shifted back to the floor once more. "I guess… I was starting to feel a little left out."

Lucy stared at him with worry before smiling and quietly saying "I'm sorry Loke, I really am. But that was then… and this is now." She moved forward and placed a light kiss on his cheek, attracting his attention once more. "Because… I love you more than a friend now." While he ran those words through his head again she leant up and kissed him once more, enjoying the feeling of being so close to him as his arms encircled her body. Still, she pulled back before he got too carried away and said to him "But as much as I'd like to stay here with you, I have to get ready for a mission now." Loke nodded understandingly and let her out of his embrace. "And I promise that when I'm done we can spend some time together. Same with every other mission from now on."

"You promise?" He asked hopefully. She smiled back.

"You know what promises mean to celestial spirit mages and their spirits. Our word is our bond, and I'm not going to break it." She beamed at him and was rewarded with her favorite smile in return. She reluctantly turned towards her cupboard slightly and said "Well I suppose I'd better start packing."

"I'll help."

"I don't think so." She said sharply, but still had a smile on her face as she pushed her spirit backwards, poking him in the chest. "You've been in the human world for a long time. You need to rest up in case I need you."

Loke just waved a hand in front of his face and said "I'll be fine! It was only… what, a couple of weeks?"

Lucy crossed her arms, "Don't make me-"

"What? Do a forced gate closure?" Loke interrupted cheekily, he was rather determined to stay. "Doesn't work on me."

"Oh really now?" Lucy raised an eyebrow before approaching him once more, wrapping her arms around his neck and whispering seductively in his ear "Well then I guess I'll just have to try something else then, won't I?" Being a typical male, Loke fell for Lucy's trap and was distracted by her enticing words whilst she gently slid her hands down the back of his shirt, until she was finally able to reach just between his shoulder blades. She lightly grazed her fingers down it a couple of times before she got the desired reaction. Loke's entire body jumped and then suddenly slumped backwards and crumpled onto the bed, rendering him paralyzed.

"Gah… damn it…" He groaned from his curled up position on the bed, deeply regretting the day she discovered such a horrible weakness. Lucy just giggled as she reached for the keys on her bedside table and pulled out one particular golden key, engraved with the symbol of Leo.

"So it does work on you as a human as well." She noted to herself that she would definitely remember that trick, then held his key up and waved it through the air as she chanted "Forced Gate Closure!" There was a low growl as Loke glowed and disappeared back to the Spirit World through his gate, unable to resist the pull in the state that he was in. The blonde mage giggled once more before turning to her closet and looking at the suitcase tucked in the corner and sighing. "It's only bandits this time, how hard can it be?" She yanked out her suitcase and set it out on the bed, ready to fill it up with as many clothes as possible for the trip ahead of her, since she couldn't be sure that the thick headed dragonslayer wouldn't destroy the set she would decided to wear. It was a miracle he hadn't decided to go for her luggage yet. Before she started packing her gaze drifted over to the keys that sat beside it, specifically the key of Leo which was separated from the others due to its recent use. Lucy smiled at the sudden warm, fuzzy feeling she got in her chest when she thought of Loke.

"So this is what it's like to be in love." She lightly hugged herself to contain the warmth, not noticing the faint glow that Loke's key gave off as she thought of him. She shook her head once more and hastily packed herself up in record time, not wanting to waste another minute in order to get the job over and done with as soon as possible. The faster she completed the mission, the sooner she could get home and see Loke. After quickly showering, changing and making sure she didn't forget anything, she bounded out the door and bolted towards the guild, ignoring the fisherman's warnings to her.

It wasn't like she needed to heed the warnings as much anymore anyway.

Because she knew that Loke would always be there for her, to catch her whenever she fell, to take away all of the pain and to love her endlessly.

* * *

So, we had our fill of Loke x Lucy now?

I know I really, REALLY killed the mood with Natsu (so terrible of me, even I think so…) but I just suck at writing schmut so much! Normally I'm more of an angst/hurt writer, so this was at the opposite end of the scale for me. I apologize for the sucky love scene and bad flow of the chapter! (Gotta start somewhere though, right?)

Anyhow, I figured I should probably wrap this story up before people get too bored of the plot. I mean, there's only so much I could do with it anyway and I was starting to run out of ideas. The next chapter will be my last. It's actually kinda sad :(

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


	13. Whatever the Future Holds

Sorry I'm so late again! A whole month, that's really bad! Firstly was the writer's block I got (on the last chapter too), that was pretty bad. Also the stupid internet provider stuffed up mine, my housemate's and a couple of my friends' internet, and we're all on different accounts. 3 weeks without internet and a pile of research homework, not pretty. Needless to say I've swapped companies -_-

Well, it's finally the time for me to take my bow. I'm glad you guys have been enjoying it! I know I've never had so much fun writing for other people. I never even imagined that this story would be so popular, but what do you know? Over 100 reviews! Seeing that magical number left me speechless, thanks guys! :D

Disclaimer: FINALLY! I only have to say it one more time! I don't own Fairy Tail or any of the characters.

* * *

**Whatever the Future Holds**

"WE'RE BACK!"

Natsu kicked in the doors, the same as he always did whenever he finished a mission, and enthusiastically jumped into the middle of the guild hall, with Happy clinging tightly to his shoulder the entire time. Several guild members offered them a series of welcomes, some gave a small wave and the rest barely even glanced in their direction. The young fire dragonslayer didn't seem to care though, he just hastily made his way over to Mirajane at the bar, followed slowly by his fellow team members who had only just made it to the door, and slid onto a stool opposite her with a wide grin on his face. Happy flew off his shoulder, sat on the bench and began gnawing at a fish he had pulled out of the sack on his back.

"Welcome back Natsu." The barmaid greeted with a warm smile. "Did the job go well?"

Natsu laughed and replied "It was awesome! There were all these big tough guys that put up a really good fight. But none of them could use magic, so we won, of course. But man…" he then spread his arms out wide, "there was this huuuuuge bang when I started using my slayer magic!"

Gray stood just behind Natsu and added "Turns out there were several boxes of explosives that the lugs used when they went to rob villages sitting in the next room. So, naturally, when this thickhead decided to start spouting flames the whole building went up." He pointed an accusing thumb at the teenager in front of him.

"Hey!" The offended boy turned to his lifelong rival. "Who are you calling a thickhead?"

"You didn't hear me, you thickhead?"

"Oh, that's it! Bring it on-"

The fight ended before it even began with a swift punch to either boys cheek from Erza's iron clad fists. The two gave each other one final glare before the ice mage decided to move over and have a conversation with Elfman, who was lingering in front of the request board, rubbing the side of his face as he walked. Natsu held the side of his face for a few more seconds, before he turned his attention to Erza, who sat down beside him casually as if she hadn't just clobbered him in the jaw. He growled a little at her until she lifted her gaze to meet his, intimidating him into turning towards Lucy, who had perched herself on his other side. Mirajane giggled at the interaction between the teammates before continuing on with their previous discussion.

"So, was there a lot of damage done from the explosion?"

The scarlet haired knight's gaze softened as she settled down and she replied "Surprisingly, no. The hideout was in a rather isolated valley, so the blast was contained to that single building."

"Which means we all got our full shares of the reward." Lucy said happily, patting her handbag that contained her beloved purse which, for once, was loaded. "And I now no longer have to worry about my rent for this month!" The young blonde stretched her arms above her head, then looked over at Mirajane and asked "Oh by the way Mira, did you get around to that favor I asked?"

"Of course!" She opened one of the drawers under the bar and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which she handed to her friend. "It's all been taken care of, so you're set!" Erza and Natsu looked over at Lucy with raised eyebrows.

"What's taken care of?" Natsu asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing important." Lucy hopped off her stool. "Anyway, I need to get going guys. I just remembered I have something important to do."

"But we just got back." Erza said, but Lucy was already out the door before she could say anything else. She then swiveled on her seat and said "What did she ask of you?"

"Lucy asked me not to tell." Mirajane replied, holding a finger up to her lips. The two mages blinked at her in unison as she fished her hand into the drawer once more, but stopped dead in her movements as a realization hit her. "Uh-oh…"

"What?"

The Take Over mage pulled out another folded piece of paper, which had 'Lucy' scribbled on it and said sheepishly "I gave her the wrong thing. I'm going to have to go and fetch her."

Natsu stood up eagerly and said "Don't worry Mira, I can do it for you."

"But Natsu, Lucy asked me not to tell." A gloved hand rested on her shoulder, grabbing her attention.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the guild while you're gone." Erza said with a determined smile. "I have done it before on several occasions."

"Thank you Erza!" With a bright smile she quickly turned and ran after Lucy, who was long gone by then. Erza stood up tall and looked around at the guild members, reflecting on her times of being in charge. It was hard work, since there were so many things wrong with them all, but at the same time enjoyable for her. She never admitted it, but she often had fun pulling the many guildies back into line.

**-HALF AN HOUR LATER-**

Lucy beamed as she finally reached her destination, gazing at the sparkling blue lake and surrounding trees that she had been longing to see for the several days that she had been away. The mission took place in an area that was two days of travel away, so she had been gone for almost an entire week, although it seemed much longer to her. She had been waiting so long for this moment, decided not to waste any more time.

She unclipped a golden key and held it up high, softly chanting "Open, gate of the lion. Leo!"

There was a quick flash of light as her spirit materialized in front of her and gave her a bright smile and said "I thought you'd never summon me again at the rate you were going."

"Sorry it took so long." She replied with a light blush, her gaze lowering. "I didn't realise the job would be so far away." She quickly looked back up at him and continued "But I got something for us. It looked like an easy job for our first one together." Loke raised an eyebrow as Lucy rummaged around in her bag for a few seconds before she pulled out the piece of paper Mirajane gave her and handed it to him. He unfolded it and read it carefully once, then twice…

"Capture a wanted man, going undercover in a… stripper's club?"

"WHAT?"

Lucy snatched the request back from a very confused Loke and read over it, her face contorting into one of horror before she held a hand to her forehead and sighed "Mira… you gave me the wrong job!"

The lion spirit poked his head over her shoulder, taking another look at the scrap of paper, and said "Who would take a job like that in the first place?"

Lucy turned her head to the side to look up at him and said "Not me, that's for sure. I swear this is not the job I asked for." She hung her head as she stuffed the job request back into her bag.

"Ohhh, cheer up." Lucy tensed slightly as she felt warm hands rest on her shoulders, and a light kiss placed gently on her cheek. "We'll go back over to the guild and see Mira about it later. But for now let's just relax, that's what we're here for, isn't it?" As quickly as it came, the warmth faded away as Loke moved away from her and slumped down against the trunk of the large oak tree by the lake. Lucy followed suit and sat down beside him, looking out at the clear blue water. "So, you're sure the others are okay with you going on a job by yourself?"

"Well, I haven't exactly told them yet… but it's not as if they don't go on jobs without me, right?" Lucy looked over at his concerned face and added "And besides, I won't be alone because you insist on going with me."

"Well, someone's gotta look after you…" Loke said with a yawn as he stretched and lay down on the grass, his arms folded behind his head, "and I owe you for looking after me, plus I get to spend some quality time alone with you." He grinned and winked before yawning again and closing his eyes. Lucy rolled her eyes at his usual flirting behavior, typical Loke. But she couldn't deny that she was also looking forward to it, she had often longed to be alone with him ever since he'd changed back.

She turned towards her bag sitting beside her and opened it up, revealing the remnants of the chapter she was currently working on, with her quill and inkpot tucked neatly beside them. She reached in for the pieces of paper, but stopped when she felt something heavy on her legs. She turned back to see Loke with his arms folded comfortably over his chest and his head resting in her lap, his eyes closed and a smile on his face. She didn't even hear him move over.

"Comfortable?" She asked, poking his cheek slightly.

"Mmhm," he replied quietly, flinching slightly from the poke just below his glasses. He cracked an eye open when he felt them slide off his face and said "What are you doing?"

"Well you're not using them," Lucy said as she slid them over her ears, perching the sunglasses on the top of her head. "Don't worry, I won't lose them." Loke just smiled back up at her before closing his eye again, letting himself drift off for a light nap. Lucy just stared lovingly at his handsome face, enjoying the peaceful moment she had with him. She felt a sense of déjà vu seeing him lay in her lap like that, and made her remember when he was doing the exact same thing as a lion.

Tearing her gaze away from Loke, she looked out at the beautiful lake in front of them, admiring the sparkling clear water and watching as a mother duck paddled around in circles at the shallow end with her ducklings, teaching them how to swim. As she stared at them, she began unconsciously running her hand through Loke's ginger hair, petting him much like she would a cat, And he responded like a cat would, turning his head slightly to one side so she could continue. When she felt the movement in her lap, Lucy realized what she was doing, but didn't stop when she saw the look on her spirit's face. He was clearly enjoying the feeling, his mouth hanging open slightly and curved upwards into that genuine smile she loved, and his head tilted a little further down so she could reach the back of his neck better. She giggled lightly, but continued grazing her fingers along his scalp, sending a tingling sensation down his spine.

"You really like this, don't you?" Lucy said, intrigued by his reaction.

"Uh-huh," Loke mumbled, "used to be the best feeling in the world." At this, Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Used to be?"

"Yep." Loke opened his eyes and grinned up at Lucy. "You know what's better now?" The blonde just shook her head slowly, unsure of his intentions. The lion spirit slowly sat up and sidled next to her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap before nuzzling his face into the side of her neck and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"To me, having you here in my arms is the best feeling in the world." Lucy felt her face go red, but only slightly and she didn't really mind. She turned around to face him, making him lift his head up once again, and placed a soft hand gently on either side of his face.

"Who knew you could be so sweet?" She said with a bright smile, staring deeply into his green eyes, which seemed to be twinkling with delight.

"That's the kind of guy you go for, isn't it?" Loke replied with a wink.

"You know I love you just the way you are." The young stellar mage moved to wind her arms around his neck, their faces getting steadily closer. "You don't have to go changing yourself just for me."

"Doesn't seem like I need to." Their noses were now touching. They could feel each other's warm breath. "I never would have imagined that being myself would work on any girl."

"I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic."

"Well, that makes two of us."

They only had to move forward an inch or so for their lips to meet. One of Lucy's hands moved up into her lover's silky smooth hair, gently grabbing a handful, whilst Loke's hands slowly slid halfway up her back, both pulling each other closer. Lucy felt the familiar warmth travel through her body, making her tingle all over, from the tips of her ears to her fingers and toes. She loved the warmth, and she could never get enough, but was left wanting when Loke slowly pulled away. He chuckled lightly and raised a calloused hand to cup her face. He could see everything that Lucy was feeling just by looking in her eyes. But still, he preferred hearing what she felt.

"I love you, Lucy." He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, just feeling her presence. "More than you could possibly know."

"I know. I love you too, just as much." Lucy placed a short, sweet kiss on Loke's lips once more before turning halfway back around in his lap and leaning her head against his chest and clutching at his shirt, staring out at the duck family that was now wading out of the water and waddling past. The two of them watch as they zigzagged their way past them, with one of the little ducklings occasionally tripping over and then speeding along to catch up. Lucy felt content, sitting there in his arms. It wasn't quite what she had originally imagined so long ago… it was better! It was like the happy ending she imagined in all the romance novels she had read, where the princess finally gets to be with her prince after all the tough ordeals they'd been through.

"So," Loke said, interrupting her thoughts, "when should we go back and get that mission fixed up?"

"Oh, I think it can wait a few more hours." Lucy replied, snuggling closer to his body, one of her hands sliding inside his jacket. "I'm sure whoever was supposed to have the job we got would hand our job in. That, or hopefully Mira has realized by now."

**-MEANWHILE-**

Mirajane hastily walked back towards the guild, barely able to contain her excitement. She had dropped by Lucy's apartment with the intention to swap over the job she had mistakenly given her, but found that she wasn't home. But on the way back, as she walked past the park, she noticed the blond mage sitting by a tree with someone else. Once she had gotten closer, she easily recognized that 'someone else' as Loke and quickly suppressed her magic so that her presence wouldn't be known, if it wasn't already. She knew just how sharp he was, and that he could easily sense someone from afar. After about fifteen minutes of watching from the bushes she had seen all that she needed to see, and just managed to get away without blowing her cover from squealing with delight, completely forgetting about why she was looking for Lucy in the first place.

Oh, how the guild was going to love hearing about what she had seen…

* * *

I dunno if that was such a great place to leave it off at, but everyone loves a happy ending and I didn't want to ruin that by going too much further with the story (I mean that in a few senses, plot-wise, quality-wise, fluff-wise etc). Plus I won't be able to update for quite some time since I'm going away tonight for the holidays.

But still, that's it everyone! I finally did it, I finally finished a multi chap fic! And I reckon it was a great success too! This is a big achievement for me!

Thank you all sooooo much for reviewing, favoriting or just reading my story! And for those who offered constructive criticism, thank you very much for your feedback, I have taken note of your advice and will refer back to it in my future pieces, hopefully this will improve my stories even more. I can guarantee that I will definitely keep writing for a while. Who knows, maybe I'll write something else that catches your interest.

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and maybe you'll see me around the sight again!

Thank you everyone! :D

~Piplup~


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